Changes in the discharge pattern of a cutover raised bog during rewetting

✍ Scribed by J. F. M. Spieksma

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 350 KB
• Volume: 13
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0885-6087
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-1085(19990615)13:8<1233::aid-hyp803>3.0.co;2-k

✦ Synopsis

Although rewetting practices have been implemented in several cutover raised bogs, their eects on discharge patterns have not received much attention. In 1983, after peat extraction had stopped in the Leegmoor, a cutover raised bog in Germany, an experimental area was set up in order to monitor rewetting and subsequent restoration. Discharge was measured since 1984. The results suggest that rewetted raised bogs may not be eective as regulators of stream ¯ow. An increase of low ¯ows during a decade of rewetting could partly be attributed to weather variation. A comparison of the Leegmoor with a nearby control catchment produced similar results. A shift in the relationship between discharge and groundwater level over time was recorded. This is probably a result of the development of vegetation and a corresponding reduction of the area of open water, leading to an increase of resistance to water ¯ow. The Leegmoor data demonstrate that the daily discharge pattern is most ¯ashy immediately after the start of rewetting and will gradually smooth.