Quebrada Grande (Costa Rica)
(A) Quebrada Grande (2.6 km2) catchment. Slope (in degrees) is color-coded. The upper-left inset shows the location of study site in central Costa Rica. (B) Quebrada Grande is located within the Barva volcano edifice. The catchment (yellow bold line) drains to the Caribbean basin within a relative complex topography. (C)-(D) Photographs showing the typical aspect of this mixed primary and secondary forested catchment.
Quebrada Grande is a high elevation and small watershed providing multiple ecosystem services. Future plans for water allocations from this watershed include uses as drinking water and hydropower generation; however, since this watershed is inserted in the Braulio Carrillo National Park, these potential plans are still restricted and are under study.
Major Issues
The main challenge in this region is the expansion of residential and agricultural lands.
Research Ideas/Topics:
- Does rainfall seasonality exert the main control over dissolved organic matter (fluorescence and concentration approach) export and transport in a dynamic and small high elevation tropical watershed?
- To what extent vegetation prefers (water stable isotope-inferred approach) the use of shallow or deep water sources in a dynamic and small high elevation tropical watershed?
- What factors control concentration-discharge relationships (i.e., dilution, chemostasis, mobilization of trace elements) in a dynamic and small high elevation tropical watershed?