Dynamics and Biogeochemistry of River Corridors and Wetlands (Proceedings of symposium S4 held during the Seventh IAHS Scientific Assembly at Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil, April 2005). IAHS Publ. 294, 2005, 93-101

Abstract Riparian wetlands are hydrologically connected to both the surrounding upstream catchment area and the river, and represent an interface between them. They intercept surface and subsurface runoff with soluble nutrients and sediments from the upland areas, and therefore function as buffers for the river network. Due to their connection to groundwater and the supply of nutrients from upland areas, riparian wetlands have excellent conditions for vegetation development during the whole growth season. As a result, riparian wetlands are highly effective in the reduction of diffuse source pollution and sediment loads to rivers and streams. Therefore integrating wetlands and riparian zones in eco-hydrological river basin modelling is very challenging. But the correct representation of all these processes in the modelling framework with their different characteristic spatial and temporal scales is not a trivial task and includes a lot of inherent uncertainty. Additional problems are the identification of riparian zones based on regionally available data, and verification of the results.

Key words groundwater dynamics; nutrient retention; riparian zones; water quality; wetlands