Comparative hydrological behaviour of two small catchments in semi-arid Zimbabwe

This paper describes and compares the hydrological responses of runoff, soil moisture and groundwater levels to rainfall events for two small semi-arid catchments over a 2-year period. Romwe received 1430 and 756 mm of rainfall in the 19999/00 and 2000/01 season, respectively. Mutangi received 756 a...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of arid environments 2007-06, Vol.69 (4), p.599-616
Main Authors: Mugabe, F.T., Hodnett, M., Senzanje, A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal and plant ecology
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Biological and medical sciences
Catchment hydrology
Earth sciences
Earth, ocean, space
Exact sciences and technology
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
geographical variation
groundwater
Hydrology
Hydrology. Hydrogeology
rain
Runoff
Semi-arid
semiarid zones
soil depth
Soil moisture
soil water content
soil water storage
Synecology
Terrestrial ecosystems
Water table
watershed hydrology
watersheds
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This paper describes and compares the hydrological responses of runoff, soil moisture and groundwater levels to rainfall events for two small semi-arid catchments over a 2-year period. Romwe received 1430 and 756 mm of rainfall in the 19999/00 and 2000/01 season, respectively. Mutangi received 756 and 615 mm of rainfall in the same years. Romwe generated 520 and 102 mm of runoff in the 19999/00 and 2000/01 seasons, respectively, while Mutangi generated 82 and 69 mm of runoff in the same years. The runoff response of the catchments was dominated by a relatively quick response to rainfall and with little or no significant contribution from regional groundwater or ‘old water’ sources. Total soil moisture storage to a depth of 120 cm was higher at Romwe than Mutangi for the entire study period reflecting the differences in the soil types. The groundwater level was closer to the surface and responded more quickly to rainfall at Romwe compared to Mutangi where water levels were between 12 and 16 m below the surface. There was a significant relationship between profile soil moisture and water table level at Romwe and none was observed at all in Mutangi. Significant ( p
ISSN:0140-1963
1095-922X
DOI:10.1016/j.jaridenv.2006.11.016