Past Working Groups: smallCATCHMENTS

Preliminary assumptions

The Earth’s surface undergoes constant changes and transformations under the influence of both, natural and man-made processes. The changes affect individual elements of the Earth’s surface and entire landscape structures. Small river catchments are spatial units (geoecosystems) that are especially sensitive to natural and man-made processes. External impulses and their effects are immediately coded in a system and possible to register under the integrated monitoring of the natural environment. Small river catchments are a very important element of the contemporary landscape of the Earth’s surface. Whether at the regional, continental or global scales, they are worth preserving and protecting.

Basic objective of the programme

The basic objective of the programme is to capture the uniqueness of operation of small river catchments situated in a variety of morphoclimatic conditions. The study of the geoecosystem of a small river catchment embraces the identification and determination of its environmental controls, internal structure, supply sources, and the pathways of circulation and outflow of energy and matter in the conditions of climate change and multi-directional human impact. Defined in those terms, the operation of small river catchments can provide a basis for determining their uniqueness in various morphoclimatic zones and for working out a programme of their protection and conservation in the world’s landscape structure.

Basic research tasks

The adoption of the conception of operation of small river catchments allows the following research tasks to be formulated:

• determining the internal structure of a catchment on the basis of the assumptions adopted: the geological structure, relief, hydro-meteorological conditions, land use, etc.;
• organising a measuring system in order to carry out an integrated monitoring of the natural environment of the catchment (weather conditions, hydrometric cross-section closing the catchment, subterranean waters, etc.);
• water sampling (the cross-section closing the catchment, subterranean waters, springs, etc.) to determine supply sources, circulation pathways of matter, as well as mechanical and chemical denudation;
• monitoring extreme processes and their effect on the operation of the catchment;
• identifying the geodiversity of the catchment, choosing sites for protection;
• identifying changes in the landscape structure of the catchment on the basis of available land-use maps;
• developing a thematic database; and
• simulation and forecasting studies.

Organisation of the research, planned initiatives:

• selection of a river catchment up to 100 km² in area, which can be part of a larger river system;
• continuous observations of weather conditions at a weather station;
• installation in the catchment of a network of piezometers to identify the pathways of groundwater circulation and outflow;
• a hydrometric cross-section closing the catchment with a daily record of water stages and water sampling to calculate the concentrations and loads of dissolved and suspended matter;
• observation and registration of extreme events and their effect on the operation of small river catchments in the conditions of climate change and growing human impact;
• presentation of a conception of a network of small river catchments in various morphoclimatic zones on the basis of the adopted assumptions of geoecosystem operation;
• working meetings (a paper session) as part of conferences of the International Association of Geomorphologists and submission of the papers for publication; and
• preparation, for the International Conference on Geomorphology in Melbourne, 2009, of a monograph on Small river catchments and their significance in protecting the landscape structure of the Earth’s surface.

River catchments are an important landscape structure in all morphoclimatic zones of the Earth. Small river catchments are spatial units (geoecosystems) that are especially sensitive to natural and man-made processes. External impulses and their effects are immediately coded in a system and possible to register under the integrated monitoring of the natural environment. The study of the geoecosystem of a small river catchment embraces the identification and determination of its environmental controls, internal structure, supply sources, and the pathways of circulation and outflow of energy and matter in the conditions of climate change and multi-directional human impact. What distinguishes the Small Catchments programme among many fluvial programmes currently implemented is a search for index features of the operation of a catchment that can help to determine present-day landscape changes in the various morphoclimatic zones.
Both oral papers and posters are welcome in this session. The session will focus on:

• The influence of hydrometeorological conditions and land use on the dynamics of fluvial transport
• Extreme processes and their effect on the operation of small river catchments
• Changes in the landscape structure of the catchment in the conditions of climate change and growing human impact
• Simulation and forecasting studies

The Seminar will explore our current knowledge of geomorphologic processes within small catchments, examining sediment delivery systems and human impacts as well as physical, chemical and biological interactions. Considering that 1st working meeting was based on measuring systems and monitoring methods of river catchments in various morphoclimatic zones, Mallorca’s Seminar aims to analyze sediment sources and transfers ranging spatially at small catchment scale and temporally from short-term event processes to longer term historical records. Therefore, the meeting will be devoted to the following topics:

• sediment response to disturbances.
• sediment sources and transfer to the fluvial system from small catchments: measurement techniques and modelling.
• water and sediment management.

The International Seminar on Small Catchments was held at the Environmental Monitoring Station on Biala Gora (White Mountain) near Miedzyzdroje in north-western Poland on Wolin Island on April 21-23, 2008. The meeting was devoted to the following problems:

• organisation of a measuring system,
• methodology of small catchment monitoring, and
• analysis of results and research programmes.