Damming Weakens the Groundwater and Surface Water Exchange and Its Nitrate Removal in Semi-arid Prairie Rivers
Abstract Surface water (SW)-Groundwater (GW) exchange plays a vital role in a prairie aquatic system and the biogeochemical cycling in such a system. Considering the inadequate understanding of damming on SW-GW exchange, a damming prairie river in Southeast Eurasian steppe was chosen to investigate variations of the SW-GW exchange and its influences on the fate of nitrate (NO3-). Both hydraulic and hydrochemical methods were applied to precisely depict the daily and seasonal exchange processes. The upstream and downstream reaches of the dam were observed to be upwelling and downwelling conditions respectively within a hydrologic year. Results obtained from multiple tracer methods and hydraulic method indicate that damming contributed to transfer the stream from the upwelling to the downwelling condition and weaken the SW-GW exchange in the downstream. The patterns of SW-GW exchange modulated the NO3- uptake or production between the SW and the GW. NO3- was mainly removed in the SW-GW exchange zone (SW-GW EZ) of the upwelling segment, while produced in the downwelling segment. Both the removal and production of NO3- were enhanced during snowmelt period, which might be an active period for the SW-GW exchange and NO3- fate. This study underscores the negative effect of damming on the SW-GW exchange and accompanied NO3- removal in prairie river systems.