Spatial-Temporal Dynamics of Runoff Generation Areas in a Small Agricultural Watershed in Southern Ontario

The identification of runoff generating areas (RGAs) within a watershed is a difficult task because of their temporal and spatial behavior. A watershed was selected to investigate the RGAs to determine the factors affecting spatio-temporally in southern Ontario. The watershed was divided into 8 fields having a Wireless System Network (WSN) and a V-notch weir for flow and soil moisture measurements. The results show that surface runoff is generated by the infiltration excess mechanism in summer and fall, and the saturation excess mechanism in spring. The statistical analysis suggested that the amount of rainfall and rainfall intensity for summer (R2 = 0.63, 0.82) and fall (R2 = 0.74, 0.80), respectively, affected the RGAs. The analysis showed that 15% area generated 85% of surface runoff in summer, 100% of runoff in fall, and 40% of runoff in spring. The methodology developed has potential for identifying RGAs for protecting Ontario’s water resources.

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