ABSTRACT
Understanding and characterizing groundwater-surface water (gw-sw) interactions has emerged over the past few decades as an important subfield of hydrology and stream ecology. Prior to this, groundwater and surface water were generally assessed as separate domains, except when water resource demands in one domain imparted pressure on the other. For example, groundwater well hydraulics relatively near to streams requires consideration of the stream as a recharging boundary condition, and intensive pumping can actually modify stream flow conditions. More recently, the continuity and complexity of interactions between these hydrologic compartments under natural conditions have become more apparent. In particular, the role of gw-sw hydraulics in streams, often coupled to thermal regimes and biogeochemical cycling, has been the subject of many recent investigations related to water resources management, earth science, and ecosystem assessment (Brunke and Gonser 1997; Kalbus et al. 2006). In this context, it is clear that understanding gw-sw interactions is critical to making well-informed land, water resources, and ecosystem management decisions.
