Question

Describe the process of how water becomes streamflow. Draw a schematic of a hillslope and show different mechanisms by which water is moved to a stream. Include a discussion of the response of the system to precipitation events. What implications do these processes have on the age and residence time of streamwaters in the hydrologic system?

Answer 1

Water becomes stream flow as the flow from the steepest slope causes the water to get a speed to flow. This commonly happens when the water comes from the high ground levels like ground water, streams, rivers and channels of water flow. This all causes the water to become a stream flow when flowing. The water system responses to the precipitation events that are happening like the Transpiration, Evaporation these all things are the main cause for the substrate coming out of the clouds due to gravity. Since as explained in the diagram the water before converting into the streamline it undergoes different processes included in the figure as the precipitation of the water from the clouds mainly depends on the these operations through which the surface water gets converted into the vapours and then form into clouds and then the water is getting precipitated from the clouds. Thus the response of the precipitation system takes place from the inbefore tasks that are happening.  These processes plays a major role on the age and residence time of the streamlines in the hydrologic system. The residence time is the time that is affected by the volume of the flow of water based on these flow time whether the ocean can be converted into the river flow by just decreasing the volume of the water flow rate. Thus according to ages the transpiration, Evaporation, Precipitation, Infiltration, Interflow, Overland flow, Interception and soil moisture causes a great impact on the residence time of the stream liners in the hydrologic system.