Researcher: Rashaad Bhamjee, M.Sc. Candidate
Supervisor: Dr. John Lindsay, Department of Geography, University of Guelph
Summary
Running water is one of the most important contributing factors to shaping the terrestrial environment and can be broken down into two main categories:
1) overland flow; the general flow of surface water down the slope of a land surface, and
2) streamflow; the channelized movement of flow. Streamflow pattern is fairly stationary on a large-scale over short periods of time but on a small scale, streamflow networks can be very dynamic.
Rashaad is interested in determining how stream networks expand and contract on a fine-scale which has been difficult to measure in the field until now. To this end, he has developed a network of small sensors that can be placed in small channels that will record the date and timing of the onset of flow. This will be the first fine-scale spatial and temporal study of ephemeral streamflow in Southern Ontario. His research will determine how stream networks behave under various conditions and this behaviour will allow for an assessment of the potential for the movement and fate of pollutants from agricultural fields.