TITLE:
Hydrological Processes in a Small Research Watershed under Forest Coverage in the Coast of Chiapas, Mexico
AUTHORS:
Juan Alberto Rodríguez-Morales, Romeo de Jesús Barrios-Calderón, Jorge Reyes-Reyes, Dorian de Jesús Pimienta-de la Torre
KEYWORDS:
Hydrological Response, Tropical Forest, Runoff-Rain Ratio, Water Balance, Groundwater Recharge
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Geoscience and Environment Protection,
Vol.11 No.3,
March
22,
2023
ABSTRACT: In the hydrological watershed, some natural processes take place in which
the interaction of water, soil, climate and vegetation favors the capture of
water. The present study aimed to evaluate preliminary information regarding
the hydrological response and the water balance in a small research watershed with
tropical forest cover (15°01'44''N and 92°13'55''W, 471 m, 2.3 has). Events of
precipitation, direct runoff, infiltration rate and baseflow were performed.
The amount, duration and intensity of rainfall events were recorded with the
use of a pluviograph. Surface runoff was quantified with an established gauging
station, an H-type gauging device and a horizontal mechanical gauging
limnograph. Runoff base flow was measured at the gauging station using the
volume-time method. Infiltration was measured using a triple ring
infiltrometer, taking two measurements in the upper part and two in the lower
part of the microbasin. Evapotranspiration was measured with the amount of
rainfall entering and runoff leaving the watershed. In the study period, annual
rainfall of 4417.6 mm distributed over 181 events were recorded; about 70% of
the storms showed lower intensities at 20 mm·h-1. The total runoff
was 345.8 mm caused by half of the rainfall events, which represents 7.8% of
the total rain; 77% of runoff events showed lower sheets of 5 mm and an average
specific rate of 20.7 L·s-1·ha-1 with a maximum of 113.6
L·s-1·ha-1. Three runoff events were greater than 20.1 mm
and caused the 22.5% of the total runoff depth in the study period showing the
equilibrium conditions in the hydrological response of the forest. Water
outputs like baseflow was 669.5 mm. In this way, 90% of the rainfall is
infiltrated every year in the micro-watershed, which shows the importance of
the plant cover in the hydrological regulation and the groundwater recharge.