Multiple modelling of water chemistry flows assessed in a mountain spruce catchment

The study was carried out over a period of 1999–2003 in the Dupniański Stream catchment located in Silesian Beskid Mts. Region (Southern Poland). Analysis of the chemical composition of bulk precipitation, throughfall, stemflow, surface flow, soil water (horizontal + vertical and vertical penetration) and outflow water samples was performed. The complex data matrix with more than 3,000 observations of water reaction, major anions (F⁻, Cl⁻, NO₃ ⁻, SO₄ ²⁻) and cations (NH₄ ⁺, Na⁺, K⁺, Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺, Fe²⁺, Mn²⁺ and Zn²⁺) were treated by regression modelling. The modelling approach took into account seasonal variability according to winter and growing season, as well as chronosequence of spruce stands. The retention of considerable levels of contaminants by the canopy, and their removal or washout from needles by rainfall caused changes in the concentration of anions and cations reaching the soil surface compared to the concentrations in bulk precipitation. In the youngest stand, most elements except NH₄ ⁺, SO₄ ²⁻ and K⁺ were retained in the canopy, and even H⁺ ions were neutralized. In the older stands, most elements increased in net throughfall fluxes, and the acidity increased strongly. Soil water was slightly correlated with throughfall, while outflow water showed no correlations with the above ground water flows, and seemed to depend mostly of the bedrock.