GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 37, L24403, doi:10.

1029/2010GL045415, 2010

Geomorphological origin of recession curves

Basudev Biswal1 and Marco Marani1
Received 9 September 2010; accepted 14 October 2010; published 18 December 2010.

[1] We identify a previously undetected link between the 2. Active Drainage Network and the Source
river network morphology and key recession curves Function
properties through a conceptual‐physical model of the
drainage process of the riparian unconfined aquifer. We [4] We assume that the recession hydrograph at an outlet
show that the power‐law exponent, a, of −dQ/dt vs. Q is dominated by drainage of the unconfined aquifer by the
curves is related to the power‐law exponent of N(l) vs. channel network instantaneously intersecting it, the Active
G(l) curves (which we show to be connected to Hack’s Drainage Network (ADN). ADN geometry varies over time
law), where l is the downstream distance from the because drainage of the aquifer produces the progressive
channel heads, N(l) is the number of channel reaches ‘desaturation’ of the ephemeral low‐order streams (see
exactly located at a distance l from their channel head, Figure 1).
and G(l) is the total length of the network located at a [5] Within this conceptual framework we make the fol-
distance greater or equal to l from channel heads. Using lowing assumptions:
Digital Terrain Models and daily discharge observations [6] 1. The recession flow varies slowly in time and can be
from 67 US basins we find that geomorphologic a described through a succession of steady states. The total
estimates match well the values obtained from recession discharge at the outlet, Q(t), is thus equal to the total
curves analyses. Finally, we argue that the link between drainage discharge delivered by the aquifer to the network
recession flows and network morphology points to an (i.e., propagation effects along the network are negligible):
important role of low‐flow discharges in shaping the Qðt Þ ¼ q  GðtÞ ð1Þ
channel network. Citation: Biswal, B., and M. Marani
(2010), Geomorphological origin of recession curves, Geophys. where G(t) is the total length of the ADN and q is the dis-
Res. Lett., 37, L24403, doi:10.1029/2010GL045415. charge per unit length drained by the ADN;
[7] 2. q is spatially constant.
1. Introduction [8] 3. The rate at which source links recede, c = dl/dt, is
constant in space and time (a source link is defined as a
[2] River networks exhibit remarkable morphological and saturated link with no upstream saturated links).
structural similarities, which can be expressed quantitatively [9] Under these assumptions one finds:
through traditional and fractal geometry [Horton, 1945;
Hack, 1957; Marani et al., 1994; Rodríguez‐Iturbe and dQ dG dq dq
¼q þ  Gðt Þ ¼ qc  N ðtÞ þ  GðtÞ; ð2Þ
Rinaldo, 1997]. One intriguing and important question is dt dt dt dt
how the spatial organization of river networks is reflected in
the hydrologic response to rainfall inputs. The geomorpho- where N(t) is the number of channel sources in the ADN
logical theory of the hydrologic response [Kirkby, 1976; configuration at time t (see Figure 1). The last equality in
Rodríguez‐Iturbe and Valdés, 1979; Rinaldo and equation (2) recognizes that the rate of change of the total
Rodríguez‐Iturbe, 1996] links the geomorphological prop- ADN length, dG/dt, is equal to the rate at which individual
erties of the hillslope‐network system and its responses [e. saturated source links recede, multiplied by the number of
g., Rinaldo et al., 2006a, 2006b], but requires the complete source links in the current ADN configuration. dQ/dt in the
specification of travel times for the local groundwater flows recession phase thus depends both on N(t), controlled by
in order to deal with recession hydrographs. In fact, to our the desaturation of channel reaches, and on dq/dt, con-
knowledge, few contributions have attempted to connect trolled by aquifer depletion. One can now envision two
recession hydrographs and the morphological features of the end‐member cases. In the first case dQ/dt is dominated by
drainage network producing it [Marani et al., 2001; Vivoni the rate of change of the ADN length (likely to occur in
et al., 2008], even though recession curves have long been sloping basins). In the second case dQ/dt is dominated by
studied [e.g., Brutsaert and Nieber, 1977]. the rate of change of q (more likely to happen in relatively
[3] Through a simple model of the drainage process and flat basins). Brutsaert and Nieber [1977] focus their
discharge observations from 67 US basins we provide here attention on this latter case, and study the time dependence
evidence that key properties of low‐flow regimes are of dq/dt in a non‐sloping channel. Here we focus on the
determined by the time‐varying geometry of saturated time dynamics of the ADN and make the following
channelled sites. assumption:
[10] There exists a regime in the recession phase in which
the geometry of the ADN varies quickly, such that the term
1
Dipartimento IMAGE and International Centre for Hydrology in dq/dt can be neglected and equation (2) becomes:
“Dino Tonini,” Università di Padova, Padua, Italy.
dQ=dt ¼ qc  N ðtÞ ð3Þ
Copyright 2010 by the American Geophysical Union.
0094‐8276/10/2010GL045415

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continuity equation dV/dt = −Q, one readily finds equation

(5) with a = 2 − b [Kirchner, 2009]. Equations (4) sug-
gest, on the other hand, that the form of the observed −dQ/dt
vs. Q curves can be traced to the underlying geomorpho-
logic relation N(l) vs. G(l). In fact, because of (4), equation
(5) holds if:
N ðl Þ / G ðl Þ g ð6Þ

with ag = a. Relations (5) and (6) reveal the geomorphic

origin of recession curves.

3. Observational and Geomorphic Recession

Curves
[11] We use daily average discharge data obtained from
USGS for a set of 67 basins in the U.S. sampling a wide
variety of different areas, relief, soil type and use. We note
that the daily resolution is appropriate for the present scopes
as we are here interested in recession curves, i.e in time-
scales of the order of several days. Following Brutsaert and
Nieber [1977], we plot −dQ/dt ≈ −(Qi − Qi−1)/Dt vs. Q ≈ (Qi
+ Qi−1)/2, where Dt = 1 day. We discard winter observations
(December to February), to avoid mixing snow‐melt and
aquifer contributions, and consider as recession curves only
periods of monotonically decreasing streamflow lasting at
least 5 days (but experiments with different thresholds
above 5 days yielded very similar results). We also consider
Figure 1. Idealized recession process. Source streams are only recessions occurring after discharge peak values larger
indicated with closed circles. Solid lines represent active than the average discharge of the stream, to avoid consid-
streams, dotted lines represent dry streams. ering minor events which may not have significantly
increased the average soil saturation, thus not triggering a
significant response of the groundwater. −dQ/dt vs. Q plots
(see Figure 2a for a representative example: Paluxy basin −
If the recession phase starts at t0, an arbitrary channel seg-
TX − drainge area = 1062 Km2) exhibit different regimes.
ment in the initial ADN contributes to the recession flow for
Relatively high values of Q (A–B in Figure 2a) correspond
a time interval t = t − t0 which is directly proportional to the
to parts of the hydrograph with considerable contributions
distance, l, separating the segment considered from the
from surface processes. The relation between dQ/dt and Q is
farthest upstream source: t − t0 = l/c. Because of this cor-
not one‐to‐one, as may be expected in the case of fast, non‐
respondence between time and length along the network we
stationary, surface flows. Only for slightly lower discharge
can trade time for length, such that G(l) is the total length of
values (B–C) we observe a scaling behaviour of −dQ/dt vs.
the ADN at a distance greater or equal to l downstream of
Q. We interpret this regime (which is present in all hydro-
the sources of the initial ADN configuration. N(l), here
graphs analyzed from all the basins considered) as the result
termed the Source Function, is defined as the number of
of the dominance of drainage processes through the ADN.
sites located at a distance l from the sources of the initial
For increasingly smaller values of Q (C–D) the hydrographs
ADN configuration (see Figure 1, top). At time t one thus
tend to be quite ‘flat’, which we interpret as being connected
finds:
with a decrease in drained discharge per unit length (q) due
Qðt Þ ¼ q  G ½ l ðt Þ to the depletion of the aquifer (rather than to changes in the
geometry of the ADN). Interestingly, the observed exponent
ð4Þ
dQ
¼ qc  N ½l ðtÞ
in −dQ/dt vs. Q curves (a in equation (5)) remains fairly
dt constant in the intermediate scaling regime across a large
number of different events for the same basin (Figure 2b).
Equations (4) link network morphology to recession curve However, the curves for different events tend to be shifted,
properties and can be tested by studying −dQ/dt as a func- such that, for a given value of Q, more intense events
tion of Q. One generally finds a power‐law relation of (characterized by large peak discharges, on the right in
Brutsaert and Nieber [1977]: Figure 2b) exhibit a smaller value of −dQ/dt with respect to
dQ less intense events. This finding strongly suggests that the
 ¼ kQ ð5Þ one‐to‐one relation V / Qb, assumed in previous studies to
dt
justify equation (5) [e.g., Tague and Grant, 2004; Kirchner,
This is typically justified by assuming a power‐law relation 2009], does not hold. Furthermore, the simultaneous fit of
between the volume of water stored within the aquifer, V, the observations from all hydrographs produces a severe
and discharge: V / Qb. In fact, upon consideration of the underestimation of the actual value of a characterizing indi-
vidual recession hydrographs (thin solid line in Figure 2b).
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in Figure 3a)) and an ADN including just the main channel

branches (C in Figure 3a). The transition toward the scaling
regime (B in Figure 3a) may be interpreted as the sign of a
transition from unchannelled (hillslope) to channelled sites.
It is indeed quite remarkable that an intermediate scaling
regime is present in all cases analyzed (see Figure 3b, for a
representative sample) as hypothesized in equation (6). The
resulting scaling exponents are summarized in Table S1 of
the auxiliary material for the entire set of available basins.
[13] If the exponent of the geomorphic recession curve, ag,
corresponds to the exponent derived from observed recession
curves, ao, the widely observed relation (5) can now be
justified purely in terms of the geomorphic properties of the
channel network, without the need of a one‐to‐one relation
between discharge and water volume stored in the basin. We
thus study a ag vs. ao plot (Figure 4), which allows a detailed
comparison of geomorphological and recession‐flow ex-
ponents. We separately analyze basins which are relatively
steep (based on DTM relief and by locating forested areas in
satellite images) and do not have significant reservoirs
(which largely control recession discharge values) and the
remaining basins. Figure 4 supports the conclusion that
ag ≈ ao for relatively steep basins. Basins with modest relief
do not show such a correlation, suggesting that, in this case,
dQ/dt may be dominated by the term in dq/dt in equation (2).
The mean of the frequency distribution of the residuals
ao − ag obtained for the ‘steep’ basins (see inset in Figure 4
and Table S1 of the auxiliary material) is quite small (mean
Figure 2. (a) A sample recession curve for the Paluxy error = −0.19, standard deviation of the error = 0.20, the
basin. Different regimes are shown as AB, BC and CD. standard deviation of ao being 0.18), further supporting a
(b) BC portions of recession curves for selected representa-
tive hydrographs and their trend lines (a varies between
2.05 and 2.28). The solid thin line is the, very different,
trend line (slope = 1.19) obtained by fitting all data points
simultaneously. (c) Frequency distribution of a values com-
puted from all hydrographs for the Paluxy basin.

The estimation of the scaling exponent must, on the con-

trary, be performed by separately analyzing each available
hydrograph to produce a frequency distribution of observed
a values. Figure 2c illustrates the outcome of such a pro-
cedure applied to 336 events for the Paluxy basin. Mean,
median and standard deviation of the distributions obtained
for a significant number of hydrographs (between 22 and
468) for the entire dataset are shown in Table S1 of the
auxiliary material.1
[12] We then analyzed the DTM’s (30 m resolution) for
all the 67 basins considered and extracted the drainage
networks using flow accumulation thresholds [O’Callaghan
and Mark, 1984]. We also experimented with different
delineation criteria (e.g., thresholds on upstream distance to
the source, on cumulated area plus concavity condition, and
the area‐slope criterion [Tarboton et al., 1991]) with no
appreciable difference in the results that follow. For each
pixel in the extracted channel network the length, l, to the
farthest source is computed to construct N(l) and G(l).
Plotting N(l) vs. G(l) (Figure 3a) shows a distinct scaling
regime, corresponding to ADN configurations which are
Figure 3. (a) Geomorphic recession curves of the Paluxy
intermediate between the fully saturated condition (l = 0, A
basin with flow accumulation threshold (FA = 1 open cir-
cles; FA = 100 triangles). N(l) vs. G(l) curves for the two
1
Auxiliary materials are available in the HTML. doi:10.1029/ cases are indistinguishable. (b) Geomorphic recession
2010GL045415. curves of representative basins extracted from the dataset.
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Interestingly, the value of Hack’s exponent obtained from

(10), by using the median values of ao and ag for sloping
basins, are 0.48 and 0.53 respectively, to be compared with
values of h in the range 0.52 – 0.60, with mean h = 0.55,
obtained for a different set of basins by Rigon et al. [1996]).

5. Conclusions
[15] Recession curves in sloping basins bear the signature
of the geomorphic structure of the channel network which
produces them. Such a signature can be identified through a
simple model of the ADN dynamics under the following
assumptions: i) Q is proportional to the total length, G(l), of
the ADN, ii) the discharge per unit length of the ADN, q, is
constant in space, iii) the rate, c, at which the ADN contracts
Figure 4. ag vs. ao. Black circles refer to sloping basins is constant in space and time, and iv) the rate of change of
and show a good agreement between geomorphic and reces- the total length of the active drainage network dominates
sion curve exponents. Gray, smaller, circles refer to flat over the rate of change of q, such that dQ/dt is proportional
basins, which exhibit a lack of correlation between ag and to the number, N(l), of the terminal links of the ADN.
ao, likely because dQ/dt is in this case dominated by dq/dt [16] N(l) is likely to become small during prolonged
rather than by changes in the ADN length. The inset shows drought periods, even in sloping basins. In this regime the
the frequency distribution of the residuals, ao − ag, between ADN is limited to the main and most stably saturated links
hydrograph‐derived recession curve scaling exponents and of the channel network, such that the term containing dq/dt
their geomorphic estimates for the sloping basins. in the expression for dQ/dt (2) can no longer be neglected.
In the case of prolonged recession periods one must thus
good agreement between the exponent obtained from also account for the term dq/dt, as in Brutsaert and Nieber
recession curves and its geomorphic estimates. [1977]. The theoretical interpretation developed here, how-
ever, does capture the properties of observed recession
curves for the large number of sloping basins considered,
4. Universal Properties of Recession Curves: suggesting that indeed q · dG/dt  dq/dt · G(t) in a rela-
Hack’s Exponent tively frequent dynamical regime. In fact, the power‐law
exponents obtained from observational −dQ/dt vs. Q curves
[14] The geomorphic power‐law relation (6) can be linked agree well with the exponents obtained from the corre-
to Hack’s law, expressing the distance from the outlet to the sponding N(l) vs. G(l) curves when basins are relatively
divide as a function of the basin area: l / Ah. h is Hack’s steep. This result provides a valuable conceptual interpre-
exponent [Rigon et al., 1996]). The total length of the ADN, tation of recession hydrographs and possibly a way to infer
G(l), for a given configuration indexed by a value l, can be their characteristics solely from DTM’s.
expressed as the total length of the stream network at full [17] Our analyses show that the power‐law form of −dQ/
saturation, L = G(0), multiplied by the probability, P(L > l), dt vs. Q curves does not stem from a one‐to‐one relationship
that a site chosen at random within the network exhibit a between Q(t) and the volume of water stored within the
distance to the divide, L, larger than l: basin, but rather from the underlying morphological struc-
Qðlðt ÞÞ / Gðl Þ ¼ L  PðL > l Þ ð7Þ ture of the channel network. We also show that, in order to
avoid a severe underestimation of the scaling exponent,
The probability distribution P(L > l) is known to be power‐ recession analysis should be performed separately for each
law over a large range of scales, where P(L > l) / l −g [e.g., single event, rather than by binning all recession data
Rigon et al., 1996]. Therefore, Q / l −g and, because l = c(t − together.
þ1
t0), −dQ −(g+1) [18] Finally, our results identify some general connections
dt / l , such that −dQ
dt / Q . Comparing this latter

between recession curves and Hack’s law, which char-
relationship with equation (5) yields:
acterizes the organizational structure of channel networks.
þ1 Values of Hack’s exponent retrieved from observed reces-
¼ ð8Þ sion curves and from N(l) vs. G(l) curves are in good general

agreement with those obtained from traditional DTM anal-
Rigon et al. [1996] show that g = b/h, where: yses, in further support of the geomorphic roots of recession
curves properties.
P½ A > a / a ð9Þ [19] In closing, it is interesting to note that the good
agreement between the predictions from the model of ADN
P[A > a] is the probability that the contributing area A at a dynamics and the observed exponents of −dQ/dt vs. Q
point in a drainage network exceed an arbitrary value a. curves is a confirmation that the hypotheses of the model
Finally, considering that h + b = 1 [Maritan et al., 1996], we indeed hold for the large set of sloping basins and events
find: considered. In particular, the specific discharge q appears to
be approximately spatially constant. One is thus led to argue
1 that the incision of the channel network may be due, to a
¼ ð10Þ
1h significant degree, to subsurface flow, in such a way as to
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produce an approximately uniform drainage of the local Maritan, A., A. Rinaldo, R. Rigon, A. Giacometti, and I. Rodríguez‐Iturbe
groundwater system and thus a unform distribution of q. (1996), Scaling laws for river networks, Phys. Rev. E, 53(2), 1510–1515.
O’Callaghan, J., and D. Mark (1984), The extraction of channel networks
from digital elevation data, Comput. Vis. Graph. Image Process., 28,
328–344.
[20] Acknowledgments. The authors gratefully acknowledge the Rigon, R., I. Rodríguez‐Iturbe, A. Maritan, A. Giacometti, D. G. Tarboton,
CARIPARO foundation for funding the PhD scholarship awarded to BB, and A. Rinaldo (1996), On Hack’s law, Water Resour. Res., 32(11),
and for financial support through the research project ‘Transport phenom- 3367–3374, doi:10.1029/96WR02397.
ena in river basins: theory and hydrologic and geophysical observations’. Rinaldo, A., and I. Rodríguez‐Iturbe (1996), The geomorphological theory
Funding from the University of Padova ‘Strategic Research Project’ on of the hydrologic response, Hydrol. Processes, 10(6), 803–844.
‘Geological and Hydrological Processes: Monitoring, Modelling and Im- Rinaldo, A., G. Botter, E. Bertuzzo, A. Uccelli, T. Settin, and M. Marani
pacts in North‐east Italy’ is also acknowledged. (2006a), Transport at basin scales: 1. Theoretical framework, Hydrol.
Earth Syst. Sci., 10, 19–29.
Rinaldo, A., G. Botter, E. Bertuzzo, A. Uccelli, T. Settin, and M. Marani
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