ATS2545 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Surface Runoff, Soil Compaction, Hydraulic Conductivity
25 May 2018
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Lecture 10 – Surface Runoff and Streamflow
Runoff
• Is water that leaves some part of the Earth’s surface
o E.g. a field, stream catchment, continent
• Various runoff pathways
o Surface runoff
o Runoff within soil (interflow: shallow or through flow)
o Groundwater runoff
• Influential factors
o Rain intensity
o Soil infiltration properties
o Hydraulic conductivity of subsurface materials
• Different pathways deliver water of different quality and differing erosivity
Water Quality Implications
• Surface runoff often contaminated
o Litter from streams, oil from cars
o Arrives at streams rapidly
• Groundwater runoff arrives at streams much more slowly but cleaner
• Soil compaction, clearing, overgrazing, urbanisation and similar activities
increase amount of water into surface runoff → less water to enter
groundwater
• Increasing the volume of surface runoff may increase the volume of
contaminants and erode soil delivered to streams
• Surface run off – schematic
Origin of Surface Runoff
• Can come from Stemflow
• Robert Horton – infiltration excess overland flow
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