Hidden water and landscape erosion: Understanding the link between storage, release, and catastrophic erosion

Catastrophic floods and sustained droughts will be increasing according to the IPCC 2018 report. It is uncertain how this change will impact flow pathways and sediment yield within the watersheds of major rivers during hydrological extremes. A crucial element in the routing of discharge, and its erosive impact on landscapes, is subsurface storage of water and its pathways within the critical zone. While water in the subsurface will not directly contribute to local erosion, it will lead to a quick hydraulic response in the larger drainage network, with associated consequences on incision, bank erosion, and increased transport capacities. The challenge is in both observing and predicting change in subsurface water amounts and fluxes. Building upon existing infrastructure within the Eifel region, Germany, we plan to focus on a short reach and small upland catchment within the upper Ahr valley (the Müsch reach and Kottenbach catchment), to understand how water storage and release in the critical zone impacts discharge and sediment transport. As part of the larger HiLandEr project, groundwater and fluvial dynamics will be surveyed using passive seismology and water chemistry to build a picture of the subsurface flow paths and quantities. In this PhD project we will develop the methods to efficiently numerically model both the hydrology and sediment yield of the system.

Keywords: Groundwater, landscape evolution modelling, hydrogeology, environmental seismology

• PhD director Dr John ARMITAGE, IFPEN
• Ecole doctorale   ED 398-Geosciences et Ressources Naturelles
• IFPEN supervisor    Dr John ARMITAGE, IFPEN 
• Student localization    IFPEN, Rueil-Malmaison,France
• Duration and start date    3 years, start on November 2023
• Employer    IFP Energies nouvelles (IFPEN), Rueil-Malmaison, France