Hydrograph Separation using Geochemical tracers by Three-Component Mixing Model for the Coniferous Forested Catchment in Gwangneung Gyeonggido, Republic of Korea

This study was conducted to clarify runoff production processes in forested catchment through hydrograph separation using three-component mixing model based on the End Member Mixing Analysis (EMMA) model. The study area is located in the coniferous-forested experimental catchment, Gwangneung Gyeonggido near Seoul, Korea (N 37 45', E 127 09'). This catchment is covered by Pinus Korainensis and Abies holophylla planted at stocking rate of 3,000 trees $ha^{-1}$ in 1976. Thinning and pruning were carried out two times in the spring of 1996 and 2004 respectively. We monitored 8 successive events during the periods from June 15 to September 15, 2005. Throughfall, soil water and groundwater were sampled by the bulk sampler. Stream water was sampled every 2-hour through ISCO automatic sampler for 48 hours. The geochemical tracers were determined in the result of principal components analysis. The concentrations of $SO_4{^{2-}$ and $Na^+$ for stream water almost were distributed within the bivariate plot of the end members; throughfall, soil water and groundwater. Average contributions of throughfall, soil water and groundwater on producing stream flow for 8 events were 17%, 25% and 58% respectively. The amount of antecedent precipitation (AAP) plays an important role in determining which end members prevail during the event. It was found that ground water contributed more to produce storm runoff in the event of a small AAP compared with the event of a large AAP. On the other hand, rain water showed opposite tendency to ground water. Rain water in storm runoff may be produced by saturation overland flow occurring in the areas where soil moisture content is near saturation. AAP controls the producing mechanism for storm runoff whether surface or subsurface flow prevails.