Hyporheic Exchange And Nutrient Uptake In A Forested And Urban Stream In The Southern Appalachians

The hyporheic exchange (HE) is defined as the interaction between stream water and groundwater, where the stream water passes back and forth between the active channel and subsurface flow paths (Runkel, 1998). The zone of this exchange is characterized by saturated pore spaces, under sand or gravel stream beds (Hancock, 2002) and near the adjacent banks of the stream (Ryan, 2010), that contain some amount of water from the main stream channel (Boulton, Welty, & Larson, 2010).An indication of channel complexity within streams (Grimm, 2005), this transitional zone exposes surface water solutes to alternating oxic and anoxic conditions as they are mixed within the groundwater flow system (Lautz & Siegel, 2007). This plays a crucial role in stream ecosystem functioning with regard to physical characteristics (e.g. stream temperature), biogeochemical processes, (Ryan, 2010), and nutrient cyclings, which ultimately control the water quality of the stream (Lautz & Siegel, 2007).