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      Variations in Water Storage Capacity of a Mountain Peatland with Complex Stratigraphy

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      SCHUT-THESIS-2022.pdf (2.771Mb)
      Date
      2021-11-18
      Author
      Schut, Selena Rae
      ORCID
      0000-0002-6284-102X
      Type
      Thesis
      Degree Level
      Masters
      Metadata
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      Abstract
      Peatlands in the Rocky Mountains most commonly occur in valley bottoms and are classified as fens. Understanding how fens influence water storage and water release is essential for better predicting water availability as the climate changes. Peatlands located in mountain regions tend to have a complex soil profile due to the geomorphologically dynamic environment. There is little information on the water storage capacity of mountain peatlands. To address this knowledge gap, the water storage capacity of a fen peatland with a complex soil profile in the Canadian Rocky Mountains, Alberta, Canada, was studied. Using the water table fluctuation method, vertical variations in specific yield were estimated. The influence of several factors – soil profile complexity, vegetation cover, water table depth, and seasonality – on specific yield were determined. Results showed that soil profile complexity plays a vital role in determining the spatial variability of vertical specific yield. The effect of stratigraphy on specific is important because it demonstrates that active geomorphic environments (often found in mountain regions) are a crucial piece of information required to determine the water storage capacity of mountain fens. The seasonality analysis results show that the overall wetness of a given year or time during the growing season influences the water table depth and response to rainfall events, thus exerting a control on specific yield. The impact of seasonality is also important because it reveals that even small changes to weather patterns can impact water storage in mountain peatlands. Overall, the research yielded new insights into how much water is stored in and released from mountain fens, information which is useful to improving regional hydrological models and predicting hydrological impacts of climate change or geomorphic events.
      Degree
      Master of Science (M.Sc.)
      Department
      Geography and Planning
      Program
      Geography
      Supervisor
      Westbrook, Cherie
      Committee
      Blakley, Jill; Ferguson, Grant; Smith, Laura
      Copyright Date
      April 2022
      URI
      https://hdl.handle.net/10388/13679
      Subject
      Peatlands
      Water Storage Capacity
      Rocky Mountains
      Hydrology
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