The Groundwater and Surface Water Hydrology of Project Stream, Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, Massachusetts

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2017-05-09

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Abstract

The research in this study contains a combination of high-resolution time series data sets taken in intervals ranging from ten seconds to thirty minutes. These data sets were utilized for a quantitative assessment of the causes of discharge fluctuations of Project Stream, a small stream located in South Hadley, Massachusetts. In addition to stream monitoring, groundwater and lake level monitoring brought the study to fully encompass the larger picture of the hydrologic influences on the Project Stream wetland ecosystem. Stream gauging and stage, sub-drainage basin gauging and stage, groundwater level, lake level, and weather station data were collected at various intervals through the 2016- 2017 study period. The relationship among these factors were examined in conjunction with the stream hydrograph to interpret the groundwater and surface water hydrology of the Project Stream wetland. Precipitation was the dominant factor controlling stream discharge. This was consistent in both the fall and winter months studied in this project. The severe drought that encompassed the summer and fall of 2016 greatly impacted the hydrology of Project Stream. The winter hydrograph is more complicated, and stream discharge was influenced by changes in air temperature, precipitation intensity and type, and preexisting soil moisture conditions. Stream discharge was also heavily influenced by discharge from the sub-drainage basin associated with the athletic field drainage system that outflows into the Project Stream wetlands during precipitation events. Analysis of the groundwater well and lake level revealed there is no direct relationship between the two systems and suggests the aquifer is part of a larger bedrock aquifer system. Lake level, on the other hand, was influenced by direct precipitation and stream runoff from Project Stream and Stony Brook.

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Keywords

Hydrology, Groundwater, Surface Water, Wetland Ecology

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