VOL. 12, NO.

4 REVIEWS OF GEOPHYSICS AND SPACE PHYSICS NOVEMBER 1974

Streamflow Generation

R. ALLAN FREEZE •

Departmentof GeologicalSciences,Universityof British Columbia, Vancouver,Canada

During the past 10yearsunderthe impetusof the InternationalHydrologicalDecadetherehasbeena

burstof researchactivityaimedat obtainingbetterinsightinto the mechanisms of streamflowgeneration.
The researchhasfocusedon an examinationof the waysin whichwater movesfrom hillslopesinto small
streamchannelsduringand betweenrainfall eventsin upstreamtributary basins.The researchhasbeenof
two types:field measurements in representative experimentaldrainagebasinsand theoreticalstudiesus-
ing mathematicalmodelsof hydrologicprocesses, carriedout with the aid of a digitalcomputer.The field
studieshaveidentifiedthe sourcesof lateral inflow to streamsasoverlandflow, subsurfacestorm flow, and
groundwaterflow. They havealsoproventhat mostoverlandflow isgeneratedeitheron smalluplandpar-
tial areasthat are more or lessfixed in sizeand that are controlledby the distributionof soil typesor on
expandingand contracting'variablesourceareas'that are adjacentto streamsand that arecontrolledby
thetopographicandhydrogeologic configuration of the hillslopes.
Theyhaveshownqualitativelythat the
relativeimportanceof the differentprocesses dependson suchcontrolsas climate,geology,topography,
soilcharacteristics,vegetation,and land use.This varietyof fieldconditionscoupledwith the complexity
of theprocesses themselves hashinderedthegrowthof generalized interpretations basedsolelyon the field
evidence, andhydrologists haveincreasingly turnedto mathematicalmodelingto isolatethevariouscom-
ponentsof the system.Physicallybasedmathematicalmodels,in the form of boundaryvalueproblems
basedon the partial differentialequationsof flow, are now availablefor all the processes involvedin
streamflowgeneration.The conceptsof open channelhydraulicsform the basisfor modelsof flow in a
streamchanneland for overlandflow. The conceptof saturatedand unsaturatedporousmediaflow has
been brought to bear on models of infiltration, subsurfacestorm flow, and groundwaterflow. Ap-
plicationsof thesemodelsat field sitesand for seriesof hypotheticalcaseshaveidentifiedthe physical
parametersthat control the various observedmechanismsof downslopewater movement and for some
environmentshave determinedthe necessaryconditionsfor the dominanceof one mechanismover the
others.

CONTENTS created the need for massive increases in the size and com-

Hydrologiccycle ....................................... 628 plexity of measurement programs for precipitation and

Mechanismsof streamflowgeneration .................... 630 streamflow,and the classicproblemof engineeringhydrology
Mathematicalsimulationof streamflowgeneration ......... 634 becamewell definedas the predictionof the amount and tim-
Concludingremarks .................................... 646 ing of streamflowresultingfrom rainfall events.However, the
INTRODUCTION complexityof this responsetendedto promotethe develop-
ment of generalizedregional analysesthat used entire drain-
The origin of riversand the springsthat feed them has been
age basinsas black box responseunits. This type o,f hydro-
a subject of speculationfor hundreds of years. Most early
logicpredictionmodeltreatstherainfall-runoffrelationshipin
natural philosophers,includingPlato analAristotle, gave the
an empiricalstatisticalmannerwithout consideringthe causal
subjectsomethought,and mostconceived
of a hydrologiccy-
mechanisms.This approachhas great power in satisfyingthe
cle of some form. All these early cycles,however, invoked
needsof engineeringdesignbut doesnot provideany insight
mysteriousagentsto pull water from the seasup throughthe
into the internal mechanismsof the hydrologiccycle.
bowelsof the earth to feedspringsin the mountains.It was not
During the past 10 years under the impetusof the Inter-
until the late 17th century,when the French physicistsEdme
national Hydrologic Decade there has beena burst of research
Mariotte and Pierre Perrault made their independent mea-
activity aimed at obtainingbetter insightinto the mechanisms
surementsof the dischargeof the Seineat Paris and of the rain-
of streamflowgeneration.It is recognizedthat an understand-
fall feedingits drainagebasin, that it was realizedthat the in-
ing of thesemechanisms will aid not only in the development
different rains provide sufficientwater to feed the mighty
of better techniquesfor the predictionof runoff from rainfall
rivers. A decade later, measurementsof evaporation by the
but will alsoimproveour insightintotheroleplayedby hydro-
English astronomerEdmund Halley closedthe open link and
logicprocesses in the shapingof landformsandin the delivery
confirmed the conceptof a hydrologic cycle.
of pollutants into stream channels.We know, of course,that
If this was the birth of the scienceof hydrology, then its
the larger riversare fed by the smallertributaries,and it is this
adolescencewas rather long. It was not until the early yearsof
network of small tributary streamsthat drains by far the
the presentcentury, when the needfor intelligentmanagement
largest percentageof the land surface. Much of the research
of soil and water resourceswas recognized,that quantitative
hasthereforefocusedon an examinationof the waysin which
experimentalhydrology began to develop as an engineering
watermovesinto smallstreamchannelsin upstreamtributary
tool. The era of dam building and water resourcedevelopment
drainage basins during and between rainfall events. The
• Twelfthrecipientof the JamesB. MacelwaneAward 'in recogni- researchhasgenerallybeenof two types:fieldmeasurements in
tionof significantcontributions to thegeophysical bya young representativeexperimental drainage basins and theoretical
sciences
scientistof outstandingability.' The award was presentedat the 54th studiesusing mathematicalmodelsof hydrologicprocesses,
Annual Meeting of the AmericanGeophysicalUnion in April 1973.
solvedwith the aid of a digitalcomputer.Most of the field re-
Copyright¸ 1974 by the AmericanGeophysicalUnion. search has been based on instrumentation that is concentrated

627
628 FREEZE: STREAMFLOW GENERATION
in response unitsmuchsmallerthan full watersheds, oftenon
individual slopesthat feed short reachesof small tributary
streams. Careful field measurements are taken on the com-
pletesurfaceandsubsurface hydrologicsystemratherthanjust
on the input rainfall and output streamflow.In this article,I
will examine some of this field research, and I will review more
completelythe modelingstudiesthat provide theoreticalex-
planationsfor the observedphenomena.
HYDROLOGIC CYCLE
Conceptualizations
Figure 1 is a schematicdiagram that showsthe hydrologic
processes that may be operativein a watershed.It may comeas
a surpriseto nonhYdrologists to note that a watershedmustbe
thought of as a combinationof both the surfacedrainagearea
and the upper parcel of subsurfacesoils and geologic for-
mations. The subsurfacehydrologicprocesses are just as im-
portant as the surfaceprocesses in the analysisof streamflow
generation.Figure 2 presentsa secondschematicdiagram of
the hydrologic.cycle, this one a pot-and-pipelinerepresenta-
tion of the type often utilized in the systemsapproach to
hydrologic modeling. These two figuresare introduced here
simply to provide the reader with a diagrammaticintroduc-
tion to hydrologicterminology. Figure 1 is conceptuallythe
better in that it emphasizesprocessesand illustratesthe flow
systemconceptof the hydrologiccycle.The storageconceptil-
lustrated in Figure 2, on the other hand, fails to reflect the
dynamicsof the situation, but it does provide an easily fol-
lowed conceptualization,and it presentsa set of terms often
usedwhen referring to the rates and quantitiesinvolved in the
various processes.
Figure 3 is a conceptual illustration of the streamflow-
generatingmechanismsthat might be operativeon a hillside
feedinga short reach of stream (i.e., in sometiny subwater-
shedof Figure 1). The diagramshowshow a rainfall eventpro-
ducesa streamflowevent by providing lateral inflows to the
streamchannelalong its reach.The lateral inflowsmay be the
Channel
Overland Flow
Eva potranspira t ion
ß :
Strea
Exfiltration/
Groundwater Discharge
Subsurface Flow System
.........
,•
Fig. 1. An introductionto hydrologicterminology:hydrologicprocesses
result of overland flow, subsurfacestorm flow, or ground-
waterflow. The outflowgraphof streamdischarge versustime
is called a 'hydrograph,' and if the quantitiesof stream dis-
chargedue to eachof the three processes can be separatedout
of the resultinghydrograph,then thesequantitiesare known,
respectively(Figure 2), as overland flow, interflow, and base
flOW.
Referenceto the first two figureswill show that hydrol-
ogistshave not been as careful as they could have beenin the
developmentof their jargon in differentiatingbetween the
hydrologicprocesses themselvesand the rates involved.Some
termsappearin both sensesand somedo not. In an attempt to
clarify the situation,I will presentin the followingsectiona
consistentsetof definitions.Thosereadersinterestedonly in a
broad hydrologicperspectivemay wish to skip thesenitty
gritty details.
Definitions
Subsurfaceflow: processes. As was suggesteddiagram-
matically in Figures 1 and 3, a subsurfaceflow systemin-
volvesflow through porousmedia in both the saturatedand
the unsaturatedstate. The 'saturated(groundwater)zone' oc-
cursbelow the water table. In this zone the soil or rock pores
are all filled with water, and the fluid pressuresare greaterthan
atmosphericpressure.In the 'unsaturated (soil moisture)
zone' above the water table the soil poresare only partially
filled, and water is held in the poresunder tension(i.e., fluid
pressuresare lessthan atmosphericpressure).The 'water table'
is then definedas that surfaceon which the fluid pressureis
equal to atmosphericpressure.Its depth at any point can be
determinedby observingthe water levelin a shallowwell open
to the atmosphere.
The processof 'infiltration' refersto the entry into the soilof
water made availableat the ground surface,togetherwith the
associated unsaturated downward flow. 'Exfiltration' is the
removalof water from the soil at the ground surface,together
with the associatedunsaturatedupward flow. (This is an ex-
cellentterm recentlycoinedby J. R. Philip but not yet in wide
Unsaturated
(soil moisture) Zone
Flow Pr ecipitation
t able
Saturated
(groundwater)Zone
Infiltration
Groundwater Recharge
Equipotential Lines
Flow Lines
in a watershed.
 FREEZE:STREAMFLOW
GENERATION 629

EVAPOTRANSPIRAT
ION) PRECIPTATION)

nterception•

.NYE.CE.YON
STORAGE I '
<lnf'I:Ir'cl
1'
,on>
UNSATURATED
SOl L MOISTURE -•lnterflow/>•- I RUNOFF•-
STORAGE '

•Groundwcite
r Rechorge)

SATURATED
GROUNDWATER
•<•Bclsef low)
STORAGE

Fig. 2. An introduction to hydrologicterminology:rates and quantitiesin a systems-typeconceptualizationof the

hydrologic cycle.

usage.The processis still usuallyreferredto as 'evaporation,'
but this leads to confusion as to whether the meteorological
processes
are included.)In a parallel fashionwe can define
'groundwaterrecharge'asthe entryinto the saturatedzoneof
water made available at the water table surface,togetherwith
the associatedflow away from the water table within the
saturated zone. 'Groundwater discharge'is the removal of
water from the saturated zone across the water table surface,
togetherwith the associated
flowtowardthewatertablewithin
the saturated zone.
A subsurfaceflow system may feed water to a stream
channelby the processes
of subsurfacestorm flow or ground-
water flow. 'Subsurface storm flow' refers to that portion of
the stream's lateral inflow that is derived from water that in-
tiltratesthe surfaceand moveslaterally through the upper soil
horizons toward the stream channel as unsaturated flow or as
shallowperchedsaturatedflow abovethe main groundwater
level. It must enter the stream channelalong a 'seepageface,'
whichis that portion of the streambankabovethe streamflow
level and below the line where the water table intersects the
bank (Figure 3). 'Groundwaterflow' refersto that portion of
the stream'slateral inflow that is derived from deep percola-
tion of infiltrated water that enters the permanent saturated
groundwaterflow systemand then discharges
into the stream
channel.
Subsurface flow: ratesand quantities. The ratesassociated
with the first four processesdefined above are straight-
forwardlytermedthe 'infiltrationrate,' 'exfiltration(evapora-
tion) rate,' 'groundwaterrechargerate,' and 'groundwaterdis-
chargerate.' That part of the streamhydrographthat can be
ascribed to lateral inflow from the subsurface storm flow
process
is called'interflow,'that whichcanbe ascribedto the
groundwaterflow processis called 'baseflow.'
Surfaceflow: processes. 'Overland flow' is the processby
which water flows over the land surface toward a stream
channel. Flow in the channel is 'streamflow.'
Surface flow.' rates and quantities. The term 'overland
flow' is also usedto denotethat part of the streamhydrograph
that can be ascribed to lateral inflow from the overland flow
process.The stream dischargeat any point in time at the
downstreamreachof any channelis termedthe 'channelflow.'
The total quantity of water that arrivesat the outlet of a drain-
agebasinduringany specifiedperiodis termedthe 'runoff.' It
is that part of the precipitationthat appearsas streamflow.
Hydrographs
Hydrographsof streamdischargeversustime preparedfrom
measurementsat stream-gagingstations are by far the most
ubiquitous form of hydrologicdata. A hydrographprovides
an integratedresult of all the hydrologicprocessesthat have
occurredwithin the period of analysisin the watershedor sub-
watershedabovethe gagingstation.Although it is not for lack
of trying, hydrologistshave found it difficultto make accurate
separationsof total hydrographsinto their process-related
components.It is neverthelessinstructiveto look at a few
hydrographsto get a feelingfor their shapesand properties.
Figure 4 is a selectionof reportedhydrographsfrom small
tributary subwatersheds. In each casethe rainfall event,as re-
cordedat a representativerain gageon the watershed,is also
shown. Figure 4a [Viessman,1966] showsan undoubtedcase
of overland flow in that it representsrunoff from an asphalt
parkinglot. The outflowbeginswithin a minuteof the start of
rainfall, ends at the close of rainfall, and rises and falls very
quickly.Storm runoffaccountsfor 100%of the rainfall on the
0.4-ha (1-acre) lot. Figure 4b [Ra•itz et al., 1970] showsrun-
off from a 58-ha (143-acre) cultivated watershed.Major run-
off does not begin until near the end of a 1-hour rainfall; it
peaks quickly, dies quickly, and has a long small tail. This
hydrographhasmanycharacteristics typicalof overlandflow,
but the runoff representslessthan 4% of the rainfall, and no
overland flow was observed.Figure 4c [Dingman, 1966] is a
hydrographfrom a uniqueAlaskanwatershedthat may be the
630 FREEZE: STREAMFLOW GENERATION

RAINFALL

TIME

SURFACE SOl L LAYER

WITH HIGH HYDRAULIC
CONDUCTIVI TY,

.• tUNSAT
URATE
D
,, ZONE

SEEPAGE
FACE WATER TABLE

SAT URATE D
ZONE

Q OVERLANDFLOW •

SUBSURFACE
STORM FLOW
STREAM
D I SCH ARG E
GROUNDWATER
FLOW

TIME

Fig. 3. The mechanismsof delivery of rainfall to a streamchannelfrom a hillslopein a small tributary watershed.

type example for slow subsurfacestorm flow. Rainfall is 1 (a)

deliveredto the streamthrough a thick mossmat that overlies 500
15 NEWARK,
DELAWARE
DRAINAGE AREA = I ACRE (04 HA)

a relatively impermeablesilt. The long persistentrecession OF BASIN RAINFALL = 100%

identifiesthe subsurfacecomponent.Figure 4d [Hewlett and
Nutter, 1970]is an unusualtype of hydrographwith an initial 2001 10•(...............
966)
peak presumablydue to overlandflow and a secondarypeak ,00]
0u 10 20
TIME-MIN
• 40 50ø [50u•
with a 2-week-longrecessionthat apparentlyreflectsbaseflow
from a groundwater inflow source. (b)
There is one conclusion that can be drawn from an ex- EAST CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA
DRAINAGE g,REA =143 ACRES ( 58 HA )
4 I0 VEGETATION
=PASTURE
AND
amination of hydrographsand the watershedsthey represent: CULTIVATED LAND
SOIL = SHALY SILT LOAM
True groundwaterflow is seldomthe causeof the major run-
off during storms.Its primary role is in sustainingstreamsdur- (after RawltZet at, 1970)

ing the low-flow periodsbetweenrainfall and snowmeltevents 0 I 2 3 4

(hence the name, base flow). In most of North America, HOURS

hydrologicalinterestis focusedmainly on stormrunoff for it is (c)

the storm peaksthat producedamagingfloodsand costlysoil GLENN CREEK, ALASKA
DRAINAGE AREA = 450 ACRES ( 182 HA)
erosionand that provide the designload for most engineering VEGETATION = SPRUCE - BIRCH
ON THICK MOSS MAT
structures. SOIL = SILT
PERCENT RUNOFF= 3-30%

For storm runoff we are left with two possibleprocesses:

,oo, -......
(after Dragman,1966)

overland flow and subsurfacestorm flow. In the next section,I

will review the developmentof these conceptsof streamflow
generationand look at someof the field resultsthat supportor (d)
deny the various hypotheses.
,oil KIMAKIA, KENYA
DRAINAGE AREA=130
SOIL=ON VOLCANIC ASH
ACRES (53 HA)

MECHANISMS OF STREAMFLOW GENERATION PERCENT RUNOFF = 2% IN

FIRST PEAK

Overlandflow. The classicconceptof streamflowgenera- (after Hewlettand Nutter,1970)

tion by overlandflow is dueto Horton [1933].He showedthat

rainfall, when it reachesthe groundsurface,infiltratesthe sur- 0 4 8
o........
12 16 20

face soils at a rate that decreaseswith time. He pointed out Fig. 4. A selection
of reportedhydrographs from smalltribu-
that for any givensoilthereis a limitingcurvethat definesthe tary subwatersheds.Note the scaledifferences between the fig-
maximum possibleratesof infiltration versustime. For heavy ures(after Freeze[1972b]).
 FREEZE' STREAMFLOWGENERATION
rainfalls the actual infiltration will follow this limiting curve,
which he termed the 'infiltration capacity'of the soil. The ca-
pacity decreases with time after the onsetof rainfall to an ap-
proximatelyconstantrate. The declineis causedmainly by the
filling of soil poreswith water and the packingof the soil sur-
face by the impact of raindrops. Controlled testscarried out
on various soil types by many hydrologistsover the years
have shown that the decline is more rapid and the final con-
stantrate is lower for clayeysoilswith'fine poresthan for open
texturedsandysoils.If at any time during the storm the rate of
rainfall exceeds the rate of infiltration, excesswater will ac-
cumulateon the soil surface,and oncehaving filled the small
depressions,
it will spill over to run downslopeas a thin sheet
of overland flow. This water movesto the streamat speedsand
in quantities sufficientto causethe rapid risesof streamflow
observedduring and following major rainstorms(Figure 5).
The runoff process described by Horton dominates the
hydrologic cycle in which the infiltration capacity of soils is
frequentlyexceededby the intensityof rainfall. This is the case
in most desertand semi-arid regions,where the soil surfaceis
not protected from raindrop impact by a good vegetation
cover and where the dearth of organicmaterial in the soil pre-
vents the development of a porous soil structure through
which water can move easily. In such regions,water reaches
streamchannelsrapidly, erodinglarge amountsof topsoiland
generatingturbid 'flashfloods,'which may causegreat damage
locally. If most of the rainfall leavesthe hillslopein this way,
little can be storedin the soil to supplywater for plant growth,
groundwater recharge,or dry weather streamflow.Thus the
aridity of such regions is intensified by the hydrologic
processesthat greet the scarcearrivals of rainfall.
The Hortonian conceptof overlandflow restsheavily on an
understandingof the processof infiltration. At the time of
Horton's original work the processwas not well understood,
and his theory was presentedin terms of the observable,but
empirical, conceptof the infiltration capacitycurve. In recent
years the physicsof flow through unsaturatedporous media
has been extensivelystudiedby soil physicists,and physics-
based mathematical models of infiltration are now available.
CURVE OF INFILTRATION CAPACITY
EXCESS WATER
GROUNE) SU RFA
AVAILABLE FOR
AND OVERLAND
(b) L
0 lateral inflowsfrom subsurface
TIME AFTER ONSET Of RAIN (HRS)
Fig. 5. The generation of runoff as Hortonian overland flow.
631
These models will be reviewed in a later section, but for the
sakeof completeness I want to previewone setof conclusions
here. Rubin [1966] showedthat curvesof infiltration versus
time can be theoreticallypredicted,giventhe rainfall intensity,
the initial soil moisture conditions, and a set of unsaturated
soil propertiesparticular to any given soil. He identifiedthe
necessaryconditions for ponding as a rainfall rate greater
than the saturatedhydraulic conductivity(as defined in the
sectionon infiltration in the chapter on mathematical simula-
tion of streamflow)and a rainfall duration greater than the
time required for the soil to becomesaturatedat the surface.
Overlandflow is thus generatedat a point on the groundsur-
face wheneverthe soils at that point becomesaturatedfrom
above by the infiltrating rainfall.
Overlandflow from partial areas. As originally presented,
Horton's theory inferred that most rainfall events exceedin-
filtration capacitiesand that overland flow is common and
areally widespread.Later workers with the TennesseeValley
Authority and the U.S. Forest Service recognizedthat the
great heterogeneityin soil typesat the ground surfaceover a
watershedand the very irregular patternsof precipitationin
both time andspacecreatea verycomplexhydrologicresponse
on the land surface.This led to the developmentof the 'partial
area contribution' concept [Betson, 1964], wherein it is rec-
ognized that certain portions of the watershedregularly con-
tribute overland flow to streams, whereas others seldom or
never do. Particularly in humid areaswherea vegetativecover
protectsthe soil and in areaswhere surfacesoilsare sandyor
gravelly, infiltration capacitiesare generallyhigherthan rain-
fall intensities.In such situationsthere is no excessof pre-
cipitation to causeoverlandflow, and large amountsof water
enter the soil.
In recent years, severalfield experimentswith integrated
surface and subsurfacehydrologic measurementnetworks
havebeenconductedin smalltributary watersheds.The reader
is referredto papersby Amerman[1965],Ragan [1968],Betson
and Marius [1969], Rawitz et al. [1970], Weyman[1970],Hills
[1971], and especiallyto the study by Dunne [1970] and to the
summary reportsof this work by Dunneand Black [1970a, b].
The overwhelmingconclusionof all the recentfield studiesis
that overlandflow is a rare occurrencein time and spacein
humidvegetatedbasins.Rather, stormhydrographsoriginate
from small but consistentportionsof upstreamsourceareas
that constituteno more than 10%, and usuallyonly 1-3%, of
ON THE
CE the basinarea, and evenon theserestrictedareasonly 10-30%
PONDING
FLOW.
of the rainfalls cause overland flow.
Freeze [1972b]has providedan heuristicargumentbasedon
the theory of unsaturatedflow and Rubin's [1966] criteria to
explain the paucity of overland flow occurrences.
Subsurfacestormflow. The secondwidely held conceptof
surfacerunoff generationpromotessubsurfacestorm flow as
the primary sourceof streamflow. This mechanismhas been
particularlyfavoredin the field of foresthydrologyunderthe
leadershipof Hewlett and his co-workers [Hewlett, 1961b;
Hewlett and Hibbert, 1967;Hewlett and Nutter, 1970]. In an
earlywork, HewlettandHibbert [1963]showedthe feasibility
of such flow experimentally,and Whipkey [1965] measured
sourcesin the field.Kirkby and
Chodey [1967] acceptedthe preceptsin their erosionstudies.
Hewlett-[1974] has recently traced the origins of the sub-
surface storm flow conceptto the period when Horton was
crystallizinghis overland flow theory [Hursh, 1936;Lowder-
milk, 1934]. Despitesimilar longevities-thesubsurfacetheory
632 FREEZE: STREAMFLOW GENERATION

has never attained the same popularity as the overland flow the most revealing conclusionsyet reported on runoff-pro-
theory. ducing mechanismsin humid areas. Resultswere summarized
The prime requirementfor subsurfacestorm flow is a shal- in two papers by Dunne and Black [1970a, b].
low soil horizon of high permeabilityat the surface,and there The studysiteconsistedof a hillsideand a shortlengthof in-
is considerableevidenceto supportthe commonoccurrenceof termittent stream channel in the upper reachesof a small
such a layer. What is in doubt is whether it can deliver tributary basin. Figure 7a is a geologiccrosssectionacrossthe
sufficientwater to provide significantcontributionsto storm watershed at the study site. Figure 7b showsthe study site in
runoff. The quantitiesmeasuredby Hewlett andHibbert [1963] detail and the instrumentation. Measurements were taken not
and Whipkey[1965]were small,and the authorsdid not relate only of rainfall and streamflow,but alsoof soil moistureand
the outflowsto the channel hydrographs. Weyman[1970] did groundwaterconditionsin the subsurfacedepositson the hill-
relate the two, and although he concludesthat 'subsurface side. In addition a unique interceptortrench (Figure 7c) was
stormflow is the only processof water transmissioneffectively constructed at the base of the hillside to collect and dis-
contributing to streamflow,' his evidence is far from con- criminate between the three types of lateral inflow to the
vincing. Measured inflows are much too small to accountfor stream. The surface collector intercepted the overland flow,
the flood peak, and the author had to plead more favorable the upper tile collected the subsurfacestorm flow, and the
conditions external to his measured reach to obtain a water lower tile caught the groundwaterflow. Figure 7d showsthe
balance. Ragan [1968] observedsubsurfacestorm flow in the
hillside forest litter but found it to be quantitatively unim-
portant asa contributor to storm runoff. This latter contention
is supportedby Dunne [1970].
On the basis of simulations with a mathematical model that
will be described.in a later section,Freeze [1972b] concluded
that there are stringentlimitations on the occurrenceof sub-
surfacestorm flow as a quantitativelysignificantrunoff com-
ponent. Only on convex hillslopes that feed deeply incised
channels,and then only when the saturatedhydraulicconduc-
tivities of the soils are very large, is subsurfacestorm flow a
feasible mechanism.
Subsurfacestorm flow and the variable source area con-
cept. Forest hydrologists have tended to couple their es-
pousal of subsurfacestorm flow with the 'variable sourcearea'
conceptof expandingand contractingchannelsystems.The es-
senceof the variable sourcearea concept,as recentlyoutlined
by Hewlett and Nutter [1970], is an 'expanding channel
network... [wherein]the channelreachesout to tap the sub-
surface flow systems which, for whatever reason, have
overidden their capacity to transmit water beneath the sur-
face.... The rapidly expandingchannel allows subsurface
flow, evenat velocitiesof only a few feet per day, to reachthe
channelin time to contributeto and sustainthe upland storm
hydrograph ... [The] expansion is aided by rain falling
directlyon the wettedareas.'Figure 6 showsschematicallythe
expansionof the sourcearea of a tributary watershedduring
storm flow (after Hewlett and Nutter [1970]).
Hewlett [1974] has traced the variable sourcearea concept
through Hursh [1936], Hursh and Brater [1941], Hursh and
Fletcher [1942], Roessel[1952], Hewlett [1961a,b], Hewlett and
Hibbert [1963, 1967], Hewlett and Nutter [1970], and Nutter
[1973]. Gregory and Walling [1968] and Stichling and Black-
well [1958] have also drawn attention to the phenomenon.
The variable source area concept differs from the partial
area conceptin two ways. First, partial areasare thought of as
being more or lessfixed in location, whereasvariable areas ex-
pand and contract. Second,partial areasfeedwater to streams
by means of Hortonian overland flow, whereasthe extended
channelsin variable sourceareasare thoughtto be fed by sub-
surface storm flow.
FieM studiesof Dunneand Black. During the International
Hydrologic Decade, many small watersheds were in-
strumentedfor researchpurposes.One of thoseset up by the
Agricultural Research Service of the U.S. Department of
Agriculturewasthe SleepersRiver ExperimentalWatershedin Fig.6. Theexpansion
of thesource
areaandthechannel
sys-
Vermont. There a rather complete set of instrumentation, tem during a storm under the variable sourcearea concept
coupledwith the carefulinterpretationsof Dunne[1970], led to (after Hewlettand Nutter [1970]).
 FREEZE:
STREAMFLOW
GENERATION 633
S. N.

680
h••,.•_ Trench
(a)

640
• - •,• Dense
blue
till
Horizontal Scale I 240

Surface "
Collector
• •-••___.._Pol yet
hylene 0.2i7Ffr'--Rain•
6

(c) _ Tile
(d).•
$I .•Surface
E
Collector
*"ø-•-1• / I I
'" Backfill J•..•
Varved
Lake
IJ
II
i .Upper
Tile

Deposit N 1400 1600

Time (hrs)
1800 2000

Fig.7. TheSleepers
River
Experimental
Watershed,
Vermont.
(a)Geologic
cross
section
through
thewater-
Shed.
(b)Mapof thehillside
studied.
(c)Cross
section
of theinterceptor
trench.
(d)Combined
hydro-
graph
offlows
from
plot2during
asample
storm
(after
Dunne
andBlack
[1970a,
b]).

combinedhydrograph
offlowsfromonestorm. Thisexample wasnotpredominately
subsurface
stormflowemerging
inthe
displays.the
preponderance flowthatwasa recur- wetlands.
of overland The rateandquantityof overland
flowcouldbe
ringfeature
ofmeasurements
intheSleepers
River directly
watershed. equated
withtherainfallfallingontheexpanding
Theauxiliary
instrumentation
allowedDunneandBlackto wetlandareas.Thisconcept
haspointsin common withthe
determine
themechanism
of generation flow. Hortonian
of thisoverland concept
ofoverland
flow,butunlike
theHortonian
Theirexplanation
combinessome ofthefeatures ofthe concept,
ofeach whererunoffoccurred whenthe soilsbecame
earlier
hypotheses.
Theytoofound flowis saturated
that'overland fromabovebyhigh-intensity rainfalls,
Dunneand
generated
ononlyasmallpercentageofthewatershed
surface. Blackfound that saturationat thesurfaceoccurredfrombe-
In keepingwiththevariablesourceareaconceptthecon- lowby watertables thatrose to th%surfaceinresponsetothe
tributing
areas
consisted
oftopographicallylowwetlandsad- infiltrating
rainfall.UndertheDunne andBlack mechanism,
jacent
tostreamchannels,
andthese wetlands
didexpand and subsurface conditions,althoughnot contributing directlyto
contractduringandfollowingstorms.Unlikethe variable streamrunoffin a significant
way, do havethe importantrole
sourceareaprecept,
however,thesourceoftheoverlandflow of controllingthe extentof the variablesourceareas.
634 FREEZE: STREAMFLOW GENERATION

Summary. Obviously,the path by which water reachesa and the vectorvariable{yt}(t ..... 1, 0, 1, 2, ßßß) is the out-
streamdependsuponsuchcontrolsasclimate,geology,topog- put. The a are the systemparameters.The functionf definesthe
raphy,soilcharacteristics,vegetation,andlanduse.In various nature of the model, and the error •t expressesthe lack of fit
parts of the world thereforeone might expectthat different with reality.
processes generatestreamflowor at leastthat the relativeim- A model is termed 'stochastic'or 'deterministic'according
portanceof the processes might vary geographically. How- to whether or not it contains random variables. If any of the
ever, there do appear to be three basicmechanismsof storm variablesxt, )it, or 6t are thought of as having a distributionin
flow generationthat have been verified by field evidenceat probability, then the model is stochastic,if not it is deter-
many locations. ministic. Clarke [1973] further definesthe terms 'conceptual'
1. One mechanismis Hortonian overlandflow from par- and 'empirical' accordingto whether or not the functionis
tial areas where soils become saturated at the surface from suggested by considerationof physicalprocesses actingon the
aboveowingto high-intensityrainfall.The controlon the par- input variables.The termsconceptualand empiricalthus refer
tial areas is the distribution of soil types. to the function f, whereas the terms stochasticand deter-
2. Another mechanismis the one outlined by Dunne and ministic refer to the presenceor otherwiseof a probabilistic
Black in which overland flow is generated by rainfall on structurefor any of the variables.
variable sourceareas adjacent to stream channels.Overland The majority of hydrologic models fit into the category
flow occurs when soils become saturated at the surface from stochasticempirical. Examples are the predictive use of
below by rising water tables. The control on the variable rainfall-runoff correlations or the time series analysis of
source areas is the topographicand hydrogeologicalcon- streamflowsequences. This black box approachis widelyused
figuration of the hillslope. in applied hydrology and has great power in satisfyingthe
3. The last mechanismis subsurfacestorm flow delivering hydrologicalneedsof engineeringdesign.It doesnot, however,
water directlyinto a permanentstreamchannelor into an ex- provide any insight into the internal mechanismsof the
panding intermittent .channelnetwork in a variable source hydrologiccycle. For the streamflowgenerationproblem we
area. need a fully illuminatedwhite box approachselectedfrom the
In additionit is recognized that groundwaterinflowfrom classof conceptualmodels.As was noted by Clarke, a concep-
thedeepersubsurface
flowsystems
provides
thebaseflowthat tual model need not be deterministic, and the ultimate model-
sustainsstreamflow between periods of storm runoff. ing goal may well b• conceptual models with stochastic
The variety of conditions to be sampled by field mea- variables that correctly reflect the data uncertaintiesthat
surementas well asthe complexityof the processes
themselves always exist. Nevertheless,to date, almost all conceptual
has hindered generalizedanalyses,but the naggingneed for models have been conceptual deterministic, and those
generalizationremains.Which hillslopeparameterscontrol described in this review will be so, too.
the various observed mechanisms of downslope water Conceptual-deterministicmodels, based as they are on the
movement?What rangesof valuesof theseparameterswill physicsof flow, usuallytake the form of mathematicalbound-
give rise to the variousmechanisms? In short, what are the
ary valueproblems.To fully definea transientboundaryvalue
necessary and sufficientconditionsfor any one of thesemech-
problem for a hydrologicsystemwe need to know: the size
anisms to become dominant during the peak storm flow and shapeof the regionof flow, the equationof flowwithin the
period? region,the boundaryconditionsaroundthe boundariesof the
To investigatethesequestions,hydrologistshave turned to region and their spatial and temporal distribution,the initial
mathematicalmodeling.In the nextsection,I will reviewsome conditionsand their spatial distribution,the spatial and tem-
of the techniquesof mathematicalsimulationin hydrologyas poral distribution of the hydraulic or hydrogeologic
they pertain to streamflowgeneration. parametersthat control the flow, and a mathematicalmethod
of solution.
MATHEMATICAL SIMULATION OF STREAMFLOW GENERATION
Figure 3 showsthe physicalsettingof a hillslopefeedinga
Mathematical Models in Hydrology stream channel. There may be overland flow acrossthe land
surface,subsurfacestorm flow in the near-surfacesoil layers,
The classicreviewarticle by AmorochoandHart [1964]and and deepergroundwaterflow. Our aim is to usethe time- and
a recent paper by Clarke [1973] provide an introductionto space-dependentrainfall inputs in a mathematical model
mathematicalmodelingconceptsand a classificationof tech- whoseoutput will be the outflow streamflowhydrographand
niques as they are applied in hydrology.It is worth sum- the time and spaceconfigurationsof suchinternal variablesas
marizing Clarke's lucid analysisof the terminologyof hydro- the water table height, soil moisture content, seepageface
logic modeling. He definesa 'system' as a set of physical height, depth and velocityof streamflow,and locationof par-
processes that convertan input variable or variablesinto an tial area contributions.The region of flow for this boundary
output variableor variables.A 'variable'is understoodto be a value problem would encompassthe entire subsurfaceregime,
characteristicof the systemthat can be measuredand that as- the streamchannel,and the land surface.The complete
sumes different numerical values at different times. It is
mathematical model would simulate streamflow on the basis
differentiatedfrom a 'parameter,' which is a quantity char- of the integratedlateral inflows from the surfaceand subsur-
acterizingthe systemthat doesnot changewith time. Hydro- face flow systems.We know, however, that these two con-
logicmodelsare concerned
with the relationships
between tributing processes
also interactwith one anotherin that the
hydrologic
variables
thatdescribe
thoseaspects
of thesystem's subsurfaceflow is dependenton the rates of infiltration from
behaviorthat interestus. The generalform of a hydrologic any overlandflow runningacrossthe land surface.A complete
model can be set down as
model would have to allow treatment Of suchcomplexinterac-
Yt = f (xt-•,Xt-o.,' ' ' ; yt-•,yt-o.,''' ; a•,a•.. . . )+ •t (1) tions as overlandflow from an uphill partial area that subse-
quentlybecomesinfiltration farther downslope,wherethe un-
The vectorvariable {xt} (t ..... 1, 0, 1, 2, ... ) is the input, saturatedflow domain permits its entry into the soil.
 FREEZE:STREAMFLOW
GENERATION 635

This completelyintegratedmodel has not yet been solved. with time, q = q(y, t). At any given point in the reach, the
Limitations are imposedby computer capacitiesand by data lateral inflow (Figure 8b), consideredas a dischargeper unit
availability. channellength, is given by
What can immediatelybe recognized,however,is that this
q = rB + q8 + qg (2)
complete model is made up of a set of three component
models, one for overland flow, one for subsurface flow, and wherer is the rainfall rate (L/T), qsis the surfacelateral inflow
one for channel flow. Solutions are available for each of these (L•/T), and qg is the subsurfacelateral inflow (L2/T).
component systems.In fact, recent researchhas led one step Transientflow in the reachis controlledby the flowsat the
further. Models of each of these components have been end poin,ts Q(0, t) and Q(L, t), by the nature of the lateral in-
presentedthat have boundaryconditionscompatiblewith the flow function q(y, t), and by the channel parametersB(y),
adjoiningcomponentmodel.In this way, two or more of these So(y),andn(y). The independent variablesarey andt, andthe
modelscan be 'coupled'eventhough they have not been'fully dependentvariablesare the stream depth h(y, t) and velocity
integrated.' v(y, t). Knowing B, t•, and h, one can calculatethe streamdis-
The limitations of available computercapacityconstrainus charge Q(y, t) from
to usingthe lowestnumberof dimensionscompatiblewith our
aims. For the surfaceflow components,on the slopeand in the Q = Bt•h (3)
channel, a one-dimensionalanalysissuffices.For the subsur- Flow in open channels can be describedby the shallow
face flow model we need a two-dimensional vertical cross sec-
water equations (often called the Saint Yenant equations).
tion taken in a direction parallel to the downslopeflow, or This pair of equationsconsistsof an equation of continuity
roughly perpendicularto the stream. and an equation of motion:
When we cometo the questionof the method of solutionfor
the boundary value problems,we are forced in one direction Or) Oh t)h OB r B q- q, -Jr-q•' Oh

without real choice by the properties of our problem. The h•yyq-t)•yy-• BOy B + • = 0 (4)
classictechniquesof analytical mathematical solution can be
Ov Ov Oh
applied only to boundary value problemswith very regular
properties, for example, square or circular regions with Tyy+ + gTyy
+ g(s - s0)
symmetricalboundaryconditionsand homogeneous isotropic
internal properties.For the hillslopehydrologyproblem to be + (re + q, + =o (5)
treatedin any realisticsensewe mustmake useof the powerful
numerical mathematical techniques that remove the The slopeSt that appearsin (5) is called the energyslope.It
limitations of regularity, symmetry, and homogeneity.The can be related to the resistanceparametern by meansof the
choice of numerical simulation brings with it the automatic empirical Manning relation
marriage of the model and the digital computer. It is beyond
St = v2n•/NR'/a (6)
the scope of this review article to describe the numerical
techniquesthat are used in solving hydrological boundary whereR = Bh/(B + 2h) is the hydraulicradius(L) and N is a
value problemsexceptby name, but I will direct the interested dummy variablethat takesthe value 1.0 in the mks systemof
reader to the original papersand to the pertinent texts and units. The resistanceparameter n is known as Manning's fric-
reviews. tion factor. Given the initial and boundary conditions, the
Manning relation (6), and the input parametersB(y), So(y),
Flow in a Stream Channel
n(y), andq(y, t), theshallow
waterequations
(4) and(3) can
Equations of flow. Flow in stream channels can be
analyzed with the classical methodology of open channel
hydraulics.The standardtext is Chow [1959]. Strelkoff[1969]
providesan excellentrecent review of the equationsof flow
and their development. Some numerical results of Ragan
[1966] will be used in this sectionas samplesolutions.
We wish to develop a one-dimensionaltransient model of
channel flow with boundary conditions that allow for time-
and space-dependent arrival of lateral inflows.We will take the
direction of flow to be the y direction and assumethat it is
perpendicularto the incoming surfaceand subsurfacelateral
inflows from the x-z plane. Let us further assumethat at any
given point the stream cross section can be reasonably
idealized as a rectangular open channel. If this is not the case
and some more complexidealizationis required, the algebra
usedin the developmentof the flow equation may differ, but
the conceptsremain unchanged.For open channel flow, a
rectangular channel is completely specifiedby its width B.
The region of flow, if such it can be called, is a one-
dimensionalline representing the reachof streamfrom y = 0 to
y = L (Figure 8a). Within this reach the channelwidth B, the
channelslopeSo,the resistance
parametern, andthelateralin- Fig. 8. One-dimensional channel flow model. (a) Longitudinal
flow q are allowedto vary with position,that is B = B(y), So= section. (b) Cross section showing lateral inflow components
So(y), n = n(y), and q = q(y). In fact, sinceq may also vary (after Freeze [1972]).
636 FREEZE' STREAMFLOWGENERATION

be solvedto producethe depthsand velocitiesof flow h(y, t) q(y, 0), Qo(0),and relationship(8) at the downstreambound-
and v(y, t) and the stream dischargeQ(y, t). ary.
The developmentof (4) and (5) assumesturbulentgradually Channel parameters. The only nongeometricalchannel
varied subcritical flow. Flow in natural streams is almost parameter needed as input to the mathematicalmodel of
always turbulent. Gradually varied flow refers to casesin channelflow is Manning's friction factor n. It is an empirical
which the cross section of flow varies along the channel. parameter that presumablydependson the stream bottom
Changesin depth and velocityare continuousalongthe reach vegetationand the nature of the streambed sediments.It can
and with time; accelerativeeffects are negligible. Flow in be measuredin the field by an inverseanalysisof streamflow
natural channels,without man-made constrictions,is usually recordsat a time and placewhenv, h, and Q are known at both
gradually varied. Subcritical flow is definedwith referenceto endsof a testreach.It is more usual,however,to estimaten by
the Froude number as comparingthe channelunder study with setsof type channels
for whichn is known. Chow[1959]providesmanyphotographs
Fr = v/(gh)•/2 (7) of type channelsfor a wide range of friction factors.
On mild slopes,whenFr < 1, flow is subcritical(or tranquil). Sampleresults. Equations(4) and (5) form a nonlinearset
By limiting the analysisto subcriticalflow we are limiting of hyperbolic partial differential equations. A considerable
ourselvesto mild slopes,and we may be removingfrom con- number of numerical schemeshave been proposedfor their
siderationcertainsteepfirst-ordertributary streamsthat are of solution. Liggett and Woolhiser[1967] and Strelkoff [1970]
interest to us. Mathematically, however, the limitation is well provide detailedanalyses
ofthese solution•e•hqdologies and
worthwhile, since it removesthe nonuniqueness problems classify thevarious finitedifferences•h';•!•::jnto
thethree
associatedwith the analysisof the full subcritical-supercritical generally
recognized
categories
of•½"•p•.
•'•-••!•'implicit,
and
range and it insures that hydraulically complex hydraulic characteristic. Amein andFang[1969]•i[½('ide anexcellent
jumps and breaking surgeswill not haunt the analyses. operational review. In the closure to their earlier article,
Boundary and initial conditions. For subcritical flow we Liggett and Woolhiser [1969] recommended an explicit
must know one boundaryconditionat eachend of the system. technique known as the single-stepLax-Wendroff method,
At the upstreamboundaryy = 0 we will specifyQ(0, t), the and it has been widely used since.
time-dependent discharge entering the reach under study. The primary application of solutionsto the shallowwater
Since Q = Bvh and we know B, we are in effectspecifyingthe equationshas been in the routing of major flood waves over
product value of vh, but we are not specifyingtheir separate considerabledistancesin large rivers. In such casesthe dis-
values.Thesevalueswill be controlle•d by the boundarycondi- charge of the flood wave overwhelmsthe influenceof the
tion at the downstreamboundary y - L. There we cannot lateral inflow function. Our interest, on the other'hand, lies in
specifythe Q(L, t) condition directly, sinceits magnitudeis the generation of streamflow in small tributaries in upstream
dependent• on thenatureof thelateralinflowfunctionq(y, t). portions of watershedswhere the lateral inflow is the primary
Rather, it is more reasonableto require that the flow at the source of flow.Ragan[1966]hasexamined theinfluence of
downstream boundary be either 'critical' or 'normal.' lateral inflow functionson rising hydrogi:aphs usingboth
Criticalflow is definedby (7) with the FroudenumberFr = 1. numerical simulations and an hydraulic experiment with an
It is often specifiedfor a free overfall at the downstream 18.28-m (60-ft) tilting flume. Figure 9 shows the outflow
boundary and is thus well suited to the analysisof flow in a hydrographand someflow depth profilesfor a casewith a
reach controlledby a man-madeconstrictionat its lower end. lateral inflow function that is triangular with time and evenly
For flow in natural channelsa normal downstreamboundary distributedalongthe channel.Figure10compares two casesin
condition seemsmore representative.Normal flow is defined which the lateral inflow differs in its spatial distribution.
by (6) with St = So, so that We now wish to turn our attention to the mathematical
modelingof the two lateralinflowmechanisms:
overlandflow
v = N•/:So'/:
( Bh•2/a
n B + 2h/
(8) and subsurface storm flow. T.o 'analyze overland flow,
however,we must first understandthe processof infiltration.
If we generateQ(L), on the basisof Q(0) and q, and the The mathematical development presented for infiltrationwill
also serve as an introduction to that for subsurface storm flow.
equationsof flow, then (8) will separateout the component
values of v and h.
Infiltration
There are two sets of initial conditions that are
hydrologicallyreasonable:no flow and steadystateflow. The Saturated and unsaturatedsubsurfaceflow. The flow of
latteris ,thesimplerto analyze.For steadygraduallyvaried water through a soil or ge.ologic formation occursin response
flow the time-dependent termsmustbe removedfrom (4) and to a potentialfield that is set up in the subsurface
region.
(5) and the partial derivativesbecomefull. The steadystate Hubbert [1940] identified the potential quantity as the
flow equations then become 'hydraulic potential'
,I• = gz + (p - Po)/p (ll)
dv-}-O•yy
h•yy dh-+-vh
BdB
dy rBq-B
q,q-qo= 0 (9)
where p is the fluid pressureat the point where ß is to be
do dh measured,z is the elevationof the point, pois the atmospheric
pressure,and 0 is the densityof the fluid. If we assignthe value
+ + g(S- So) zero to po and recall that p = og•k,we can definethe 'hydraulic
head' • = •/g as
+ (re+ q, + qo)= 0 q0= z +•k (12)
The initial flow regime is determinedby solvingthis reduced In a saturated flow systemthe hydraulic head at a point is
setof flow equationsfor h(y) and v(y), givenB(y), So(y),n(y), given by the elevationabovedatum of the top of the column of
 FREEZE:STREAMFLOW
GENERATION 637

DISTRIBUTION OF INFLOWS -0.$5 soil pores,and thesetensionsvary with the amountof water
beingheld. The nature of the interrelationshiphas beendeter-
cl-Ix10
•
o
-3
-J 8XI0-4
• •, -o3o E

•0.2•
_.• mined experimentallyover a period of many years for many
z•. y:O y--L • different soilsby researchersin soil physicswhoseinterestin
-J• 6X10
-4 -020
soil water propertieslies primarily in the role they play in
,a
--J 4 x I0 -• I I I I
-0.15
agricultural processes,especiallyplant growth. It is a complex
0 I00 200 300 400 500
hystereticrelationship(Figure 1la) that dependson the history
TIME ,1', sec.
of wetting and drying cyclesundergoneby the soil. The soil
013 -
-13 physicsresearchhas alsoshownthat hydraulicconductivityis
Numer,caIly - generated
a function of the moisture content and therefore of the
o ExpermmentaUy
detertinned
on a 60-ft tdtlng flume
pressurehead (Figure l lb). Thesetwo relationships,0 = 0(•b)
-12
and K = K(•b), summarizethe hydrologic properties of any
0.12 _

given soil. They are often called the 'characteristiccurves' of

the soil. They can be measured by any one of a number of
laboratory and field techniques,as was outlined in Black
011
[1965]. Data on naturally occurring soils abound in the soil
physicsliterature. The curves shown in Figure 11 are taken
from Liakopoulos[1965] for a soil known as Del Monte sand.
0 I0
0
I
I00
I
200 300
I
400
I i
500
-I0 The •bavalue shown in Figure 11 representsthe air entry
TIME ;1',sec pressure head. Over the range 0-•a, conditions remain
saturated even though the pressureheads are less than at-
O.26 - 0 08
mospheric pressure.This gives rise to the 'tension-saturated
J' :200
zone' above the water table, better known as the capillary
0.25 fringe.
Darcy's law can be usedto calculateflow velocitiesin the
•: 0.24 unsaturatedzone, just as it is in saturatedregions,but when
moisturecontentsvary downthe profileastheyinvariablydo,
• • 0.23 -o07E
so too does the hydraulic conductivity of the soil, and the
,a,,, 0.22 Darcy calculationis no longer so simple. We can rewrite
0.2•
Darcy'slaw for verticalflowin a saturated-unsaturated
system
as

0 20 -0 06
v• = K(F, •)t9ck/c•z (13)
0 I0 20 $0,1,t
40 50 60
0 5 I0 15 2•)
m.

DISTANCE y where F denotesa specificgeologicformation or soil type. For

Fig. 9. Numerical simulation of the outflow hydrograph and saturatedflow in a homogeneous medium,K = K0(F) = const.
flow depth profilesfor a casewith flow generatedby a lateral in- For saturatedflow in a heterogeneous medium, K becomesa
flow function that is triangular with time and evenly distributed function of depth owing to the vertical heterogeneity(soil
along the channel (after Ragan [1966]). layering),that is, K = K0(F) = K(z). For unsaturatedflow in a
homogeneousmedium, K = K(•b), and since•b changeswith
time during the infiltration process,K = K(•k) = K(t). For un-
water in a pipe tappingthe porousmediumat that point. The
saturatedflow in a heterogeneous medium,K = K(F, •b)= K(z,
hydraulichead is numericallyequal to the sum of the 'eleva- t).
tion head' z and the 'pressurehead' •.
Equation of flow. The equation of flow for one-
The velocityof flow in the z directionthrough a saturated
dimensionalvertical infiltration is developedon the basis of
porous medium is given by Darcy's law
the equation of continuity for transient flow through a
saturated-unsaturatedporous medium, and it is put into its
Oz
v.= --Ko usual form with the aid of Darcy's law.
The equation of continuity is a statementof the conserva-
where K0 is the 'saturated hydraulic conductivity' of the tion of massduring fluid flow through an elementalvolume of
porous medium. This parameterhas high valuesfor sandsand the porous media. It statesthat the net rate of fluid massflow
highly fracturedrocksand low valuesfor claysand tight rocks. into any elemental control volume within the porous media
In a homogeneous soil or geologicformation,K0 is a constant. mustequalthe time rate of changeof fluid massstoragewithin
In the saturatedzonethe soilporesarefilledwith water(i.e., the element. It can be written as
the moisturecontent0 equalsthe porosityn of the soil) and the
fluid pressuresare greaterthan atmosphericpressure(i.e., f >
0). In the unsaturatedzone, on the other hand, the soil pores Oz 0 (Onpv,)
=0-•
(Onp) (14)
are only partially filled with water (i.e., 0 < n), and the soil where
water is held in the interstices of the soil under surface tension
forcessothat the fluid pressures(if suchthey can be called)are 0 moisturecontent of the soil'(decimalfraction);
lessthan atmosphericpressure(i.e., •b< 0). The analysisof un- n porosity of the soil (decimal fraction);
saturatedflow restson the realization that at any point in the p density of water (M/La);
systemthe moisturecontentand the fluid pressure(and hence z elevation (L);
the pressurehead) are related. The pressurehead is simply a V• velocity of water (L/T);
measureof the surfacetensionforcesholding the water in the t time.
 638 FREEZE:
STREAMFLOW
GENERATION
,,., 12 0.1:>

W •o o,•o B

I[3 9 0.09 • • •
0 ICXD :>00 300 •-o y-L
TIME 1-, sec.

Fig.10. Influence
of thespatial
distribution
of lateral
inflow
onoutflow
hydrographs
andflowdepth
profiles
(after Ragan [1966]).

Theright-hand
sideof (14)canbeexpanded
to produce
three soil type F, then (19) can be solvedto yield the transient
terms:
pressurehead profiles •k(z, t). These can be convertedto
hydraulicheadprofiles4•(z,t) through(12) andto moisture
0 (Onp)
O-• O0q-pO-•
= pn-• Onq-nO0p
Ot (15) contentprofilesthroughthe 0(•b)relationship.
The moisturecontentprofile4(z, t) is the mosteasily
thatrefer,respectively,
to changesin themassstorage within graspedquantitativedescriptionof an infiltrationevent;the
theelemental volumedueto changes inthemoisture content0, pressureheadprofile•k(z,t) providesinformationon the tran-
changes in theporosity n, andchanges in thefluiddensityp. sientbehaviorof thewatertable(•b= 0) andthebuildupof
Thefirstof theseeffects
islimitedto theunsaturatedzone,the any saturated
zoneat the surface.By knowingthe hydraulic
second to thesaturatedzone.Changes in porosityarerelated headprofile4(z, t) andK(•k)for thesurfacesoil,theinfiltration
to the compressibility
of the porousmedium,changes in the rateat thegroundsurface canbecalculated withDarcy'slaw.
densityto the compres•sibility
of the fluid. For flow in a Sampleresults. Equation (19) has beensolvedfor a wide
saturated-unsaturated
systemnearthe groundsurfacethe first
term of (15) is much greaterthan the secondand third terms. UNSATURATED _I.•_i SATURATED--•
That is, for all practicalpurposeswe can considerthe com-
pressibility
ofmediaandfluidto benegligible
andtheporosity I MOISTURE
CONTENT
30
andfluiddensityto be constant
in timeandspace.With this SOIL,
simplification,(15) becomes =30*/.

Ov• dO (a)
2o $•
0-7- at
_

Inserting(13) in (16) yields o

10

•zz K(F, •b
)• - • (17) ' WETTING

I I i I I
Withinanyof thehomogeneous
formations
F thatmakeup -400 -300 - 200 -I00 0 I00
the heterogeneous systemwe have noted that the moisture
content0 is a characteristic functionof the pressure
head
(Figure1la). Thatis,0 = 0(•b).Soilphysicists
havedenotedthe I SATURATED
- 0.03
HYDRAULIC
slopeof thiscurve,whichis alsoa function
of •k,thespecific CONDUCTIVITY
Ko=0.026 '
moisturecapacityC, cm/m•n

0.02 ->
C(•) = •0(•)/• (•8) u

(b)
For a heterogeneous medium,0 = O(F,•) andC = C(F, •). u•

Relating(18)to theright-hand sideof(17)andnoting(12),we OOI-•

uE

arriveat the followingfinalformof theequationof flow:

I I

0 K(F,
Oz •k) q-1 = C(F,
•k)-•' (19) - 400 -300 -200 -moo
PRESSURE HEAD, ¾ (cm of woter)
0
I
K)O
o

Fig. 11. Characteristic

curves
relatinghydraulic
conductivity
and
If we knowthe initial andboundaryconditions
for the soil moisturecontentto pressure
headfor a naturallyoccurring
sand
profileandtherelationships
K(•k)andC(•k)(or 0(•k))foreach soil (after Liakopoulos[1965]).
 FREEZE: STREAMFLOWGENERATION 639

MOISTURE
CONTENT,-e- PRESSURE
HEAD,¾ HYDRAULIC
HEAD,J•
(% BY VOLUME) (crn of woter) (cm of woter)
I0 20 30 -I00 .•75 -50 -25 0 25 0 25 50 75 I00 125 150

E 40
N

• 60

ioo

Fig. 12. Numerical simulationof an infiltration event showingthe moisturecontent, pressurehead, and hydraulic head
profilesin the upper 100 cm of a homogeneoussoil in responseto a constantintensityrainfall (after Freeze [1969]).

range of initial conditions,boundaryconditions,and soil be insertedin Darcy's law to calculatethe rate of infiltration at
types by using a diverseset of solutiontechnologies. The various times. The datum for the values appearing on the
classicanalyticalanalysisof unsaturatedinfiltrationis due to horizontal scaleat the top has been arbitrarily chosenas 125
Philip [1957]. Numerical solutionswere introducedby Klute cm below the ground surface.
[1952]and were broughtto fruition in the papersof Day and Figure 13 showsthe time-dependentinfiltration rate under
Luthin [1956],HanksandBowers[1962],RubinandSteinhardt the constant rainfall condition. The infiltration rate decreases
[1963], and Whislerand Klute [1965]. Freeze [1969] provides asymptoticallytoward a value equal to the saturatedhydraulic
an integratedsaturated-unsaturated analysisthat relatesin- conductivity of the soil. The rainfall not absorbed by the
filtration to groundwaterrecharge.Some resultsfrom that ground as infiltration nor stored in the 10-cm-deeppond is
paper will serveto illustrate the approach. available for overland flow.
Figure 12 shows three profiles that representthe output The caseshown in Figures 12 and 13 is just one of a very
from a numerical simulation of a hypothetical infiltration large number of infiltration simulationscarriedout by several
event.The profilesshowthe time-dependentresponseof the differentworkers, includingthosecited earlier in this section,
moisturecontent,pressurehead, and hydraulicheadin the up- primarily in the field of soil physics,duringthe pastfew years.
per 100 cm of a soil with hydrologicpropertiesidentical to The resultsof this body of work provide us with a causalex-
thoseshownin Figure 11. The transientbehavioroccursin planation of Horton's empirical infiltration theory of storm
response to a constantintensityrainfall that feedsthe soilsur- runoff. Overland flow occursin responseto a rather complex
face at the rate of r = 0.13 cm/min. This rate is 5 times the interaction of moisture contents, fluid pressures,and fluid
saturated hydraulic conductivity of the soil K0 = 0.026 potentials in the saturated-unsaturated subsurface flow
cm/min. The initial conditionsare shownby the t = 0 curves, regime.The final constantvalueon Horton's empiricalinfiltra-
and subsequent curvesare labeledwith the time in minutes. tion capacity curve is seen to be numerically equal to the
The left-hand diagramshowshow the moisturecontentin- saturated hydraulic conductivity of the surface soil, a
creases down the profile with time. The surface becomes measurableparameter with physical meaning. The necessary
saturatedafter 12 min, and the soil poresin the entire profile conditions for ponding, noted earlier, bear repetition here: a
are almost filled with water after 48 min. rainfall rate greater than the saturatedhydraulic conductivity
The centraldiagramshowsthe pressureheadchanges.The of the surfacesoils and a rainfall duration greater than the
pressurehead curvefor t = 12 min doesnot reachthe •p = 0 time required for the soil to becomesaturatedat the surface.
point, so the upper few centimetersof surfacesaturationin-
Overland Flow
dicated in the moisture content profile must be 'tension
saturated.'By the 24-min mark the pressurehead at the Equationsoffiow. The analysisof flow in a streamchannel
groundsurfacehas reached+ 10cm, the indicationbeingthat presentedin an earlier sectionwill now standus in good stead
a 10-cm-deep layer of water is pondedon the surfaceat this I:•AINFA LL

point in time. (In this simulationthe maximum allowable

pondingdepthhas beenpresetat 10 cm.) There is alsoan in-
verted water table (i.e., a •b = 0 surfaceabove which •b > 0) 5
_L••/NFILTEATIO OVERLAND FLOW

cm below the ground surface (as indicated by the triangle E

. ..i.__.

labeledt = 24). The invertedwater table propagatesdown the

= .
profile with time. The true water table, which is initially at
about 95 cm depth,remainsstationarythroughthe first 36 min /
but then beginsto risein responseto the infiltratingmoisture
from above.
The hydraulichead profilesnear the surfaceon the right- Fig. 13. Time-dependentrates of infiltration and overlandflow for
hand diagram provide the hydraulicgradient valuesthat can the case shown in Figure 12.
640 FREEZE: STREAMFLOWGENERATION

for a much briefer presentationof the approachto overland or, by using(22) and a consistentsetof units so that N - 1.0,
flow modeling.We will make useof the sheetflow representa-
tion of overland flow and a form of the shallow water
v = So•/•'hV•/n (24)
equationsthat describes this form of 'openchannel'flow. The This can be rewritten as
applicationof the shallowwater equations,or their kinematic
v = ,h •-• (25)
approximation,to overlandflow generationwaspioneeredby
Hendersonand Wooding[1964], Morgali and Linsley [1965], wherea = S?•'/n and M = 5/3. Multiplying both sidesof (25)
and Brakensiek [1966]. The most complete and rigorous by h yields
analysisis that of Woolhiserand Liggett [1967].
Let us take as the region of flow a one-dimensionalline up Q = vh = ah• (26)
and down the hillslope in a direction perpendicularto the whichmakesthe stagedischarge natureof ihe modelclearer.
topographic contours and to the stream in Figure 3. The If we put (20) into the form
geometricrelationshipsare identicalto thoseshownon Figure
8a, exceptthat the directionof flow is now x rather than y and Oh 0
flow occursas sheetflow rather than in a rectangular channel. 0-•-- r + •xx(vh)= 0 (27)
The one-dimensionaltreatmentwill be taken as representative
of flow in a unit width on the sheetflow plane, so that B - 1 in and insert (26), we obtain
(3) and Q = vh. The hydraulic radiusR, definedin connection
Oh 0
with (6), is calculatedfor B >> h, sothat R = h. In the simplest
analysis,the slopeSois taken asconstantfrom the ridgeat x = Ot r q--
•xx(c•h•)
=0 (28)
0 to the stream at x = L.
If So,n, and r are known, (28) can be solvedfor h(x, t) by using
For an impermeableoverlandflow plane,the 'lateral inflow' a numericalmethod similar to the single-stepLax-Wendroff
is simplythe rainfall r(x, t), and in most analysesthe functionr scheme,and v(x, t) can be obtaineddirectlyfrom (25).
has been taken as a singlestepfunction (r = r: for t < t:, r = 0 I,Voolhiserand Liggett [1967] have analyzedthe conditions
for t > t•)constant over x. Krugerand Bassett[1965], Wooding necessary to ensurevalidity of the kinematicapproximation.
[1965a],and Fosteret al. [1968] have interpretedthis constant Theyshowthat it is bestfor roughsteepslopeswith low rates
stepfunctionas beingthe rainfall rate lessan infiltrationrate I of lateral inflow. It is valid on almost all overland flow planes.
that is also constantwith time and space.Later in this section In orderto bringoverlandflow simulationscloserto reality
we will examine some resultsof Smith and Woolhiser's[197la, it is necessaryto attempt simulationson planesthat are not
b] model where r = r(t) and I = l(x, t). For now, however,let restricted
to a singleslopeSo.Themostadvanced
approach
of
us be satisfiedwith an impermeableoverland flow plane of thistypeis that of a 'kinematiccascade,'
whichis definedasa
length L, slope So, and roughnessn, fed by a step function sequence of n discreteoverlandflow planesin which the
rainfall r.
kinematicwave equationsare'usedto describethe unsteady
For thiscasethe shallowwater equations(4) and (5) become flow. Kibler and Woolhiser[1970] provide the most complete
Ov Oh Oh analysisof such a system.They give credit to Brakensiek
h•x
x +O•x
x + •-- r = 0 (20) [1967] for introducingthe concept.
In thekinematic
cascade
approach
th•equations
offlow
Ov Ov Oh rv
(28)and(25)aresolved
independently
foreachplaneat each
s0)=0 time step,Soand n mustbe specifiedfor eachplane,and r is
For turbulent subcritical flow that arises due to rainfall on an usuallytakenasa stepfunctioncommonto all the planes.At t
initially dry plane (h(x, 0) = 0 for all x, v(x, 0) = 0 for all x) - 0,allplanes
inthecascade
arec•nsidered
dry;atlatertimes
with an upstreamboundary condition of no flow (v(0, t) = 0) the inflow hydrographfrom the upstreamplane establishes
and a downstreamboundarycondition of critical overfall (v(L, flow at the upperboundaryof any plane.No flow entersthe
t) = (ghp/•', from (7)) the boundary value problem can be upstreamboundaryof plane 1. Kibler and I,Voolhiser[1970]
describe a version of the Lax-Wendroff scheme for the solution
solvedby usingnumericaltechniquessimilar to thoseusedfor
channel flow simulation. Overland flow, however, is more of h(x, t) on a kinematiccascade.
prone to the occurrenceof laminar flow and supercriticalflow, Overland flow on an infiltrating surface.. Smith and
and these features, together with the initially dry plane, can I,Voolhiser[1971a,b] coupledan overlandflow model,in the
createseriousproblemsin the methodsof numericalsolution. form of a kinematic cascade,to a subsurfaceflow model in the
Many of the numericalproblemscan be removedif we make sensethat they determineinfiltration from the plane at any
use of a simplifiedanalysisbasedon a kinematicflow model. point with a one-dimensional verticalsaturated-unsaturated
Kinematic flow occurson a plane whenevera balancebetween flow calculation. Figure 14 is a schematicrepresentationof
gravitationaland frictionalforcesis achieved.Under suchcir- their model. Each plane in the cascademay havea different
cumstances the first four termsof (21) becomenegligiblewith slopeSt, lengthLt, and roughness nt. The soilmay be layered,
respectto the fifth, and the momentumequation(21) reduces and the one-dimensional subsurface model can be solved at as
to many pointsalong the surfaceas are necessary
to definethe
horizontal variations in soil properties.
So = St (22) The mathematical model consists of the simultaneous solu-
tion of the kinematicequationsof overlandflow (28) and (25)
The equationsof flow thus become(20) and (22), with St and the one-dimensionalform of the subsurfaceflow equation
definedby a stagedischargerelationshipsuchas the Manning (19). The lateralinflowto the overlandflow plane,designated
equation.For sheetflow, (6) becomes by r in (25), becomesq(x, t) where
St = v•'n•'/Nh
•/• (23) q(x, t) = r(t) - I(x, t) (29)
 FREEZE: STREAMFLOWGENERATION 641

r(•')

nl
Sl
12

I (x,.:l-) Ls

---•/Xz
• x

Fig. 14. Schematicrepresentationof a model of overland flow as a kinematic cascadeon an infiltrating surface
(after Smith and Woolhiser[1971b]).

and r(t) is the rainfall rate; l(x, t) is the rate of infiltration HarbaughandChow[1967]referto theirmodelasa concep-
providedby the solutionof the subsurfaceflow model. Smith tual watershedand recognizingthe impossibilityof measuring
and Woolhiser used the Lax-Wendroff method to solve the the roughnessn on all hillslopes liable to overland flow
surfaceflow equationsand the Crank-Nicholsonschemewith throughout the watershed,they refer to n as the conceptual
Jacobi iteration to solve the subsurfaceflow equation. watershed roughness.In this light these watershed models,
Smith and Woolhiser tested their model both in the which are usually thought of as physically based, become
laboratory and in the field. Figure 15a showsa numerically almost parametric, with n as the fitting parameter.
simulatedhydrographcomparedwith data taken from a 12.2- The original papers include many simulations for both
m (40-ft) laboratory soil flume modified to create a prototype hypotheticaland real watersheds,and the interestedreader is
infiltratingslope.Figure 15bis a sampleresultfrom a testing directedto them for a samplingof representative results.In ad-
of the model againstpublishedrainfall-runoff recordsfrom a dition,the work of Larsonandhisco-workers [Machmeier
field plot in an experimental watershed in Nebraska. The and Larson, 1969; Golany and Larson, 1971; Wei and Larson,
hydraulicpropertiesof the soilswere obtainedfrom available 1971] is recommended.
records,but the roughnessparameter and initial subsurface
conditionshad to be fitted by trial. In light of thesedata short- SubsurfaceStorm Flow
comings the authors note that attempts at simulating Equation of flow. If we wish to analyze the feasibility of
watershedrunoff with this approachare bestconsideredas an subsurfacestorm flow as a streamflow-generating mechanism,
exercise in fitting physical parameters into a theoretical we must utilize a mathematical model of transient saturated-
framework. unsaturatedsubsurfaceflow in a heterogeneousanisotropic
Overlandflow feedinga streamchannel. Severalworkersin medium.Freeze [1972a,b] has developedsucha model for a
the field of surface water hydrology have created watershed two-dimensional vertical cross section taken parallel to the
modelsfor upstreamcatchmentareasthat couple models of direction of subsurfacedeliveryof water toward a stream(i.e.,
overlandflow to modelsof channelflow. With this approach roughly perpendicularto the stream courseas it is shown in
the shallowwater equations,or their kinematicapproxima- Figure 3).
tion, are first applied to the overlandflow phasewith rainfall Figure 16 showsthe region of flow. It is boundedby the
as the lateral inflow and then to the channel flow phasewith streamalongABC andby thegroundsurfacealongCDE, with
overland flow as the lateral inflow. Wooding[1965a, b, 1966] the portion CD adjacent to the stream denoting a possible
useda single-slopekinematicrepresentationof overlandflow seepage face. The basal boundary is a geological one
to feeda single-slopekinematicrepresentationof channelflow. separating the permeable near-surface soils from less
Harbaughand Chow [ 1967]and Chenand Chow [ 1968]usedthe permeableunderlyingones.In somecasesthis boundarymay
full equations for each component. Kibler and Woolhiser occur where the soil horizonsblend into the parent material;
[1970] fed a kinematic cascadeinto a kinematic cascade.In all in other cases it may separate unconsolidated geological
thesewatershedmodels,couplingexistsonly betweenthe sur- depositsfrom bedrock.If the permeabilitycontrastacrossthis
face flow components.Subsurfaceflow is either ignoredor, in boundary is large enough(say, 2-3 orders of magnitudeor
the caseof the studiesby Wooding[1965a] and by Chen and more), we are justified in taking the boundary as impermeable
Chow [1968], specified as a simple external function rep- and disregardingthe very small contributions to the flow
resentingloss by infiltration. systemthat occurbelow it. The right-handboundaryEFG is
642 FREEZE:STREAMFLOW
GENERATION

I0

•3 -
Dry
Initial
Conditions
Simulated•

6 7 8 9 I0 II 12 13 14 15 16 17
Time from Start of Rainfall in minutes

(a)

Hastings,NebraskaExperimentalWatershed
Pasture Plot 56; H
Storm of June 29, 1944
4,0 -0.4
I0- -I.0

Rainfall Hyetograph

Recorded Runoff

.,. '-20 -0.5•'

0'-
1.0

0
0
•
I0
- •
20
1..•..../Simu
30
Runoff 40
Time in minutes from Start of Rainfall
50 6O 70
• 0

(b)
Fig. 15. Measured and simulated overland flow hydrographs for (a) a laboratory infiltrating slope and (b)
a field plot in an experimentalwatershed(after Smith and Woolhiser[1971b]).

in the planeseparatingour regionof flowfromtheadjacent The equationof flow for this systemis the two-dimensional
hillslope,whichfeedsthe adjacenttributarystream.The con- equivalentof (19) as developedin the sectionon infiltration:
figuration of the flow systemdecreesthat there is no flow
across this plane, and in our two-dimensional section it
becomes an imaginaryimpermeable
boundaryGH is an impermeable
boundary.The left-hand
boundaryin thesamesense.
1)]
It separates
thefieldsof flowof thetwo hillslopesections
that
deliverwaterto the streamunderanalysis. = C(F,½)• (30)
The region of flow includes both the saturated zone
If theboundaryandinititalconditions,thespatialconfigura-
ABCDEFGHA and the unsaturatedzoneDEF. The upper tion of the soil types (or geologicformations),and the
andlowerboundaries
maybehighlyirregular,
andtheregion characteristic
curvesof hydraulicconductivityK(•) and
may harbor a complexheterogeneous
configurationof soil moisturecapacityC(•) for eachformationF are known,one
layersand geologicformations. cansolvefor thepressure
head•(x, z, t). Knowing•(x, z, t),
 FREEZE:STREAMFLOW
GENERATION 643

The value of K(x, t) will dependon the valueof •b(x,t) at the

point x at time t and on the nature of the K(•k) curve for the
surface soil at x.
Along the seepagefaceCD, the pressurehead•k = 0, and so
from (12),

>x
(35)
Fig. 16. Region of flow for a two-dimensionalmodel of transient The upperboundaryof the seepagefaceD is known asthe exit
saturated-unsaturated subsurface flow.
point. For a transientflow systemits positionis time depen-
dent. This moving exit point requiresspecialattention in the
we can easilycalculatethe hydraulichead •b(x,z, t) from (12); numerical solution.
knowing the shapeof the function 0(•b),we can convert the If we convert boundary conditions(31)-(35) to the •bmode
pressurehead •k(x, z, t) resultsto moisturecontentsO(x,z, t). they take the following forms.
Solutionof the boundaryvalue problemwill thus provideus On GH
with two-dimensional patterns of the moisture content,
pressurehead, and hydraulic head throughout the region of a/az = -1 (36)
flow at any time. The transientmoisturecontentpatternswill
On AH and EG
provideus with the mosteasilygraspeddiagrammaticdescrip-
tion of the flow system,the pressureheadpatternswill allow us a/ax = 0 (37)
to follow the transient behavior of the water table (which will
On ABC
showup asthe specific•k = 0 contour),and the hydraulichead
patterns will allow us to calculatethe hydraulic gradientsat •b = Zc - z (38)
variouspoints in the systemand, with the aid of Darcy's law,
to calculateratesof infiltration at the groundsurfaceand sub- On DE
surface outflow to the stream.
Two-dimensional numerical mathematical
saturated-unsaturatedsystems were pioneered by Rubin
models of
I(x,t) : K(x,t) t)+ 1 (39)

[1968]. Hornberger et al. [1969] and Verma and Brutsaert On CD

[1970] have also contributed to the developmentof such
models. The most general analysis is that of Freeze [1971].
Boundaryand initial conditions. We have written the equa-
tion of flow (30) with •k,the pressurehead, as the independent
variable. We could as easily have used •b, the total hydraulic
head,asthe independentvariable.We mustregardthe two for-
mulations as equivalent and interchangeable.Having made
this point, we can proceedto outlinethe boundaryconditions
for our problem,first in the ½ mode,in which they are concep-
tually clearer,and then in the •kmode,as is requiredto corres-
pond with our equation of flow.
With referenceto Figure 16, along the basal impermeable
boundary GH,
Ork/Oz = 0
On the imaginary vertical impermeableboundariesAH and
EG,
arklax = 0
On the stream bottom ABC,
rk = Zc (33) flow (Figure 16). The allowable boundary conditionsare: (1)
where Zc is the elevation above datum of the surface of the
stream (i.e., the elevationof point C).
On the upper boundary DE, we allow a time- and space-
dependentrainfall or evaporationrate r(x, t) (with dimensions
(L/T)), where r positive is a rainfall rate and r negativeis an
evaporationrate. For the purposesof this sectionwe restrict
ourselvesto rainfall rates less than the saturated hydraulic
conductivityof the surfacesoils,sothat pondingwill not occur
on the surfaceand there is no possibilityof overland flow.
Under thesecircumstances, all precipitationr(x, t) becomesin-
filtration I(x, t), and the boundaryconditioncan be statedas
I(x,t) -- K(x
' t)ark(x,
Ozt)
(40)
There are two sets of initial conditions that are
hydrologicallymeaningfuland mathematicallytractable:static
conditions and steady state flow.
Under static initial conditions it is assumed that there is no
flowthroughthe system. The hydraulichead½(x,z, 0) is con-
stantfor all (x, z), andthewatertable(•k= 0) ishorizontaland
at an elevation level with the stream surface. Above the water
table there will be an equilibriumconfigurationof pressure
heads and moisture contents.
For steady state flow the time-dependentterm is removed
from the right-handsideof (30). The steadystateequationof
flow becomes
(31)
+ 1)1
=0(41)
(32)
The initial flow regime is determinedby solving this reduced
flow equationfor •b(x,z), givenK(F, •k)for eachsoiltype F and
a setof steadystateboundaryconditionsaroundthe regionof
impermeableboundariessuchas(31) and (32) and (2) constant
head boundariesalong which •bor •k are specified.Along the
seepageface,•b = 0. The steadystatepositionof the exit point
mustbe locatedby a seriesof trial and error steadystatesolu-
tions. The solution is considered satisfactory when the
simulatedposition of the water table (•k = 0) coincidesat the
boundary with the prespecifiedexit point.
Sampleresults. Equation (30) is a nonlinear parabolic par-
tial differentialequation.There are many availablemethodsof
numerical solution, and the reader is referred to the recent text
by Remsonet al. [1971]for a systematicand detailedpresenta-
tion of thesevariousmethods.In general,the schemescan be
iterative or direct, and the finite difference formulations can be
(34) implicit or explicit. Most workers have used an iterative im-
644 FREEZE: STREAMFLOWGENERATION

plicit approach such as the alternating direction implicit growth of the zone of saturationis also shownin this figure,
procedureor the line successive
overrelaxationscheme.Freeze and the nature of this water table riseis summarizedin Figure
[1972a]and VerrnaandBrutsaert[1970]haveoutlinedsomeof 17e. As is noted there, the water table remains horizontal for
the stability problems that have been encounteredin the 40 min (while soil moisturestoragedeficitsare beingsatisfied
numericalsolutionmethodologies owing to the hystereticand above),and thenbeginsto rise.A steadystateconfiguration is
nonlinear nature of the K0P) and COP)curves. reachedafter 218 min. For a cessationof inflow at 277 min, the
subsequent
A simulation taken from Freeze [1972a] providesa suitable declineof the watertableis shownin Figure 17f.
vertical The recessionis considerablyslower than the rise.
set df sampleresults.C9nsiderthe two'dimensional
cross section
shown in Figure17a.Assimulated,
thecross
sec- Figure 17g showsthe compositionof the inflow function.
tion measuresonly-6 m wide by 3 m deep, but similitudecon- The total inflow enteringthe flow systemacrossED remains
siderationg'•'canbe invokedto showthe applicabilityof the constant until saturation occurs at the surface at ts = 84 min.
results to hillslopesof a more realistic size. The porous Inflow declinesrapidlyuntil the steadystateflow is established
mediumis homogeneous, isotropic,and highlypermeable.The at t4 = 218 min. The three small diagramsto the right of
saturatedhydraulicconductivityis 0.0044cm/s. The porosity Figure 17gdisplaythe areal variationsin the inflow rate I at
is 0.30, and the unsaturated characteristiccurvesare those of varioustimes. The lowest of thesediagramsis the •finalsteady
Figurel 1. The crosssectionis'assumed to be uniformin the state inflow profile.
third dimension,and a streamflows perpendicularto the page The outflow from the subsurfacesystemis chartedin Figure
acrossthe width AF. The inflowfunctionalongthe stripED is 17h.Althoughthe initial water table riseoccursat t• - 40 min
one of constant flux with I = 0.005 cm/s until surface satura- (at the right-handsideof the system),the outflowto the stream
tion occurs;then there is constanthead thereafterwith •b = 0 is not initiated until t•. - 50 min, and the buildup of the
until the specifiedend of the inflow. The restof the boundaries seepageface does not occur until t•., - 100 min.
are impermeable,but developmentof the seepageface is Subsurfacestormflow feeding a stream channel. Freeze
allowed at the base of the slope. The initial conditions are [1972a]hascoupledthe saturated-unsaturated subsurface flow
static. model outlined in this section with a channel flow model of the
Thissmallpermeable,system
exhibitsa rapidresponse
to the typedescribedin an earliersection.In a secondpaper[Freeze,
imposed inflows. The dashed hydraulic head contours of 1972b]he carriedout simulationson hypotheticalhillslope-
Figure 17b-dillustratethe growth of the systemwith time. The channelcombinations for t-heexpresspurposeof examining
I = O.005cm/sec

IMPERMEABLE, BUT
ALLOWING
SEEPAGE
FACEDEVELOPMENT• CONSTANT
FLUXUNTIL
FROMBASEWITH '-.,,'v• SURFACE
SATURATION;
TIME .,• CONSTANT
HEADTHERE-
•' AFTERUNTILSPECIFIED
ß.•' END OF ,NFLOW- NO ,N-
_ . F•,/ F_L.O_W
OROUTEl'
OW
A •_SPECIFIED HEAD THEREAFTER
INITIAL CONDITIONS= STATIC

(b) (c)
t=44

t=77min
•? •_2;

(f)

WATER TABLE WATER

TABLE
• • ••
RISE •1.1
• DECLINE
55"•'• •-421
• O-40-- •_....•
t, min.
_,5
(g) INFLOW (h) OUTFLOW

t$=84 t4=211•
t5=277
I- o.,ow.,o
t4=218 :1 IL0 g
e 020

• = /
g , ,.,
I • • t0=277 •5 • O.
IOF
t2=•
•

-0 I00 200
t, min.
300 E
POSITION
INFLOW
ON
o[
0 I00 2• , , ,
300
t, min.
400 500 6• ,
BOUNDARY

Fig. 17. Saturated-unsaturated

subsurfaceflow in a small idealizedtwo-dimensional
flow system(after
Freeze[1972]).(a) Boundary
and initialconditions.
(b)-(d)Transient
hydraulic
headcontours(brokenline)and
water table positions(solid line). (e) Water table rise. (f) Water table decline.(g) Inflow as a functionof time
and position.(h) Outflow hydrograph.
 FREEZE: STREAMFLOWGENERATION 645

the role of subsurfacestorm flow as a runoff-generating the slope,producingsurfacesaturationover small areasthere

mechanism.Early simulationsrevealedthat necessarycon- (a very small area for caseA, and progressively larger areasfor
ditions for the dominance of the subsurface flow mechanism casesB and C). Rain that falls on this expandingseepageface
includeda deeplyincisedchannel,a convexhillslope,and sur- will therefore be delivered to the stream as overland flow. The
face soilswith very high hydraulicconductivity.The insetto contributionsof this precipitationonto the expandingand
Figure 18showssucha configuration.The main,portionof the contractingnear-channelsaturatedarea for casesA, B, and C
figuredisplaysthe streamflowhydrographsat the sourcearea are shown by the stippled additionsto the subsurfaceflow
outlet for threepossiblevaluesof saturatedhydraulicconduc- hydrographs.
tivity of .the hillside surface soil layer. The unsaturated Examination of the internal soil moisture and hydraulic
characteristiccurveswere taken as being of the sameshapeas head fields in the hillslope soils reveals the further fact that
Figure 11 in eachcase,but with differingK0 values.The rain- only caseA is a true subsurfacestorm flow case,water being
fall pulseglving riseto the runoff eventsis a stepfunctionof deliveredthroughthe entiresoil layerto the streamchannel.In
moderateintensityand 5 hours'duration. In all threecasesthe case C, moisture movement from the land surface is still
rainfall intensity is lessthan the saturatedhydraulic conduc- feedinga residualsoil moisturesink alongthe baseof the soil
tivity of the surfacesoil layer. layer. The source of subsurface outflow to the stream is
In Figure 18 the linesbeneaththe stippledregionsrepresent restricted to water entering the soil profile very near the
dischargethat hasreachedthe streamvia the subsurface storm channel.
flow process.It is water that has traversedthe thin highly These theoreticalsimulationsof runoff generationin up-
permeablesurfacesoilveneerand haseitherenteredthe stream stream sourceareasshow that there are stringentlimitations
directlythrough the streambed or has emergedon the ex- on the occurrence of subsurfacestormflow as a quantitatively
panding seepageface and run off to the stream via a short Significant runoff-generating mechanism. The occurrence of
overlandflow path. The three subsurfacestorm flow curves subsurfacestormflow is feasibleonly whereconvexhillslopes
deliver 35%, 17%, and 1% of the precipitation input, respec- feed steeply incised channels,and even in such instancesa
tively,to the outletasrunoff.The hydraulicconductivityvalue threshold-saturated hydraulicconductivityexistsbelowwhich
for curve A is in the uppermostrange of reported field subsurface stormflow cannotbe important.On convexslopes
measurementsfrom forest soils, the values for curves B and C with lower permeabilitiesand on all conclaveslopes,direct
are quite representative of agriculturalsoils. runoff through very short overlandflow pathsfrom precipita-
Case A has a saturated hydraulic conductivity 100 times tion on transient near-channel wetlands dominates the
greaterthan the rainfall rate, and a largeamountof subsurface hydrographs.In theseexpandingwetlands,surfacesaturation
storm flow is delivered to the stream. Cases B and C are 10 and occurs from below by means of vertical infiltration toward
100 times less permeable,and they deliver correspondingly veryshallowwatertablesratherthan by downslopesubsurface
smaller amounts of subsurface storm flow to the stream from feeding.Freeze's[1972b]studiesthus provide theoreticalsup-
the samerainfall input. The increasein soil moisturecontentis port for the mechanismsof runoff generationobservedin the
greater and the transmissionthrough the systemis lessfor field by Dunne[1970]and reportedby DunneandBlack [1970a,
cases B and C than for case A. If we were to reduce the con- b]. The coupledmodelof Freeze[1972a]hasalsobeenapplied
ductivity another order of magnitudebelow caseC, we would to the simulationof a field event.Stephenson andFreeze[1974]
create a case in which the rainfall rate exceeds the saturated
report on the use of this model to complement a field study
conductivityvalue, and there would be Hortonian overland of snowmelt runoff in a small upstream source area in
flow from the uplands.As it is, the responseof the saturated- the Reynolds Creek Experimental Watershed near Boise,
unsaturatedsystemcausesthe water table to rise at the toe of Idaho.

I- cm/sec -1
._. 2O

GG IOX

F
Ld
15 .•.•,• CA•E C
•xx",'
•-•CASE
•CASE
B
A

CASE A ' Ko = 0.044 cm / sec

CASE B Ko ,, 0.0044 cm/sec

•CASE C' Ko,,0.00044 cm/sec

& ,b
TIME ( hours )

Fig. 18. Numerically simulatedstreamflowhydrographsat the outlet of a hypotheticalupstreamsourcearea in

which the stream is fed by a convex hillslope having a shallow surface soil of high conductivity. The in-
set shows the hillside cross section and the position of the water table for each case at t = 5 hours.
The hydrographsrepresentthe outflow for each of three possiblevalues of saturatedhydraulic conductivityof the
soil layer. The solid lines are subsurfacestorm flow; the stippled additions are overland flow from near-channel
wetlands.
646 FREEZE: STREAMFLOWGENERATION
CONCLUDING REMARKS
In this review I have tried to show that there are three basic
mechanismsof runoff generationin upstreamtributary basins: Acknowledgments.Much of the researchon whichthisreviewarti-
Hortonian overland flow from partial areas, the Dunne and cle is based was carried out while the author was at the IBM Thomas J.
Black versionof the variable sourcearea concept,and subsur- Watson ResearchCenter in Yorktown Heights,N.Y. It benefitedfrom
face storm flow to variable source areas. I have further tried to
show that physicallybasedmathematicalmodelsof hillslope
hydrologic processescan serve to illuminate the conditions
that lead to each of the mechanisms.Having emphasizedthe
importance of the theoretical models by the length of my
presentation, I must close with a recognition of their
limitations. For the purposesof discussion,one might group
them in the following way: (1) limitations due to the assump-
tionsof the theoreticaldevelopments or to a fundamentallack
of correspondence betweenthe theoreticalmodelsand reality,
(2) limitations causedby the scarcityof data, (3) limitations
causedby the inadequacyof computercapacity.
In general, the assumptionsinherent in the theoretical
developmentsdo not lead to a large lossin generalityof the
models. Either the influence of the assumed condition is
relatively minor or the counteroccurrences
are relatively rare.
When it comesto the correspondence
betweentheory and
reality, the models for subsurfaceflow and for channel flow
appear to be relatively accurate physical representationsof
reality, but the sheetflow representationof overland flow is
open to seriousquestion. It undoubtedly provides a satisfac-
tory analysisof flow from a smoothhomogeneous surface;it is
lessclear that it describesthe complexityof quasi-channelized
flow on natural grassy, forested, or cultivated slopes.The
overlandflow modelsare probablybestviewedas parametric
predictionmodels.I feel that they providesomewhatlessin-
sight into the mechanismsof flow than do the subsurfaceflow
or channel flow models. hydrology, with observationson their calibration and use, J.
Hydrol., 19, 1-20, 1973.
Once a model is deemedtheoretically sound, the greatest Day, P. R., and J. N. Luthin, A numericalsolutionof the differential
practical limitations are those of types (2) and (3). On the equation of flow for a vertical drainage problem, Soil $ci, $oc.
data front the physicallybasedapproachrequirescomplete
spatial specification of the saturated and unsaturated
hydrogeological parameters and the surface roughness
characteristics.Even when the distributionof theseparameters
is relatively even through space,there is seldomenoughdata
available at field sites to provide the necessaryinput to
hillslope hydrologic models. When the hydrologic or
hydrogeologic patternsare highlyheterogeneous, asis usually
the case,the data problemis intensifiedevenfurther. The usual
approachis to userepresentative averagevaluesin simplified
idealizedconfigurationsof the actualconditions.The develop-
ment of methodsfor arriving at representativevaluesfrom the
available statisticaldata and the analysisof the uncertainties
introducedinto the solutionsby theseapproximationsare fer-
tile fieldsof researchthat beargreateremphasisthan theyhave
receivedin the past.
The computerlimitations are severefor the subsurface
flow
models but not for the surfaceflow models.In the coupled 1971.
simulationsof Freeze [1972a], 98% of the computertime was Freeze,R. A., Role of subsurfaceflow in generatingsurfacerunoff, 1,
spent on subsurfacecomputations.In coupledmodelswith
large subsurfacecomponents,applicationsfor some time to
come will be restrictedto individual hydrologiceventson in-
dividualslopesfeedingsinglestreams.'In the longerterm, the
anticipatedgrowth in computercapacityshouldlead us to be
optimisticabout future applicationson a larger scale.In the
1970'sit is likely that this typeof modelingwill find its greatest
value in the examinationof flow mechanismson hypothetical
hillslopesor on smallinstrumentedresearchwatersheds rather
than as a large-scaleengineeringtool for hydrologicpredic-
tion.
the manystimulatingdiscussions
I had therewith J. S. SmartandJ. R.
Wallis. I also want to thank Thomas Dunne, whose clear understand-
ing of runoff mechanisms,imparted to me during a recent joint
project, is undoubtedlyreflectedin this paper.
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(Received June 20, 1974;
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