US Research Supporting Peter Andrews Concepts

If you have had good or negative results from other theories, you might let others know here.

The forum, its administration and Peter Andrews do not endorse any posts nor have any public statements to make about any theory other than NSF.

Individual poster's are responsible for all their own posts. This forum has no comment to make on them, however in the public interest we will allow them to be viewed.

Moderator: webmaster

Post Reply
duane
Posts: 1161
Joined: Fri Apr 20, 2007 1:44 pm
Location: Central Coast, NSW
Contact:

US Research Supporting Peter Andrews Concepts

Post by duane » Thu Jun 19, 2008 11:39 pm

Here is some work supporting from the US, where beavers perform the same role (what Peter has been saying about our chains of ponds) as plants in our wetlands and streams (our equivalent of the beavers) causing groundwater-surface interactions.

Beaver dams and overbank floods influence groundwater–surface water interactions of a Rocky Mountain riparian area

Cherie J. Westbrook

Department of Forest, Rangeland, and Watershed Stewardship and Graduate Degree Program in Ecology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA

David J. Cooper

Department of Forest, Rangeland, and Watershed Stewardship and Graduate Degree Program in Ecology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA




Bruce W. Baker

U.S. Geological Survey, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA




Abstract
Overbank flooding is recognized by hydrologists as a key process that drives hydrogeomorphic and ecological dynamics in mountain valleys. Beaver create dams that some ecologists have assumed may also drive riparian hydrologic processes, but empirical evidence is lacking. We examined the influence of two in-channel beaver dams and a 10 year flood event on surface inundation, groundwater levels, and flow patterns in a broad alluvial valley during the summers of 2002–2005. We studied a 1.5 km reach of the fourth-order Colorado River in Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP), Colorado, USA. The beaver dams and ponds greatly enhanced the depth, extent, and duration of inundation associated with floods; they also elevate the water table during both high and low flows. Unlike previous studies we found the main effects of beaver on hydrologic processes occurred downstream of the dam rather than being confined to the near-pond area. Beaver dams on the Colorado River caused river water to move around them as surface runoff and groundwater seepage during both high- and low-flow periods. The beaver dams attenuated the expected water table decline in the drier summer months for 9 and 12 ha of the 58 ha study area. Thus we provide empirical evidence that beaver can influence hydrologic processes during the peak flow and low-flow periods on some streams, suggesting that beaver can create and maintain hydrologic regimes suitable for the formation and persistence of wetlands.

Received 6 September 2005; accepted 7 March 2006; published 8 June 2006.

See http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2006/2 ... 4560.shtml

Post Reply