Characterization of subsurface fluxes at the plot scale during flash
floods in the Valescure catchment, France
Abstract
This study focuses on a 10-m2 plot within a granitic hillslope in
Cevennes mountainous area in France, in order to study infiltration and
subsurface hydrological processes during heavy rainfalls and flash
floods. The monitoring device included water content at several depths
(0-70cm for the shallow soil water; 0-10m for the deep water) during
both intense artificial and natural rainfall events, chemical and
physical tracers, time-lapse electrical resistivity tomography. During
the most intense events, the infiltrated water was estimated to be some
hundreds of millimeters, which largely exceeds the topsoil capacity (≤40
cm deep in most of the cases). The weathered/fractured rock area below
the soil clearly has an active role in the water storage and sub-surface
flow dynamics. Vertical flow was dominant in the first 0-10m, and
lateral flow was effective at 8-10 m depth, at the top of the saturated
area. The speed of the vertical flow was estimated between 1 and 10 m/h,
whereas it was estimated between 0.1 and 1 m/h for the lateral flow. The
interpretation of the experiments led to a local pattern of the
2D-hydrological processes and profile properties. It suggests that fast
triggering of floods at the catchment scale cannot be explained by a
mass transfer within the hillslope, but should be due to a pressure wave
propagation through the bedrock fractures, which allows exfiltration of
the water downstream the hillslope.