Uncertainty in modelling groundwater flow paths based on head data alone: The Waihora hillslope, Taupo

Abstract

The Waihora research site is a small (0.6 ha) pastoral hillslope that drains into a wetland in the headwaters of the Tutaeuaua Stream on the northern shores of Lake Taupo. High-resolution piezometric head measurements have been collected at the site since 2004, supplemented by slug test estimates of saturated hydraulic conductivity at several of the wells, with the intention of describing the spatial and temporal patterns of flow paths that transfer nitrate leached from the land surface, through the vadose zone-groundwater continuum, to the wetland and stream