Hysteresis between groundwater and surface water levels indicates the states of hydrological turnover affecting solute transport  and redox processes

Bäthke, Lars; Schuetz, Tobias

doi:10.5194/hess-30-4889-2026

Articles | Volume 30, issue 15

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-30-4889-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-30-4889-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 30, issue 15

Research article

|

04 Aug 2026

Research article |

| 04 Aug 2026

Hysteresis between groundwater and surface water levels indicates the states of hydrological turnover affecting solute transport and redox processes

Lars Bäthke and Tobias Schuetz

Data sets

egusphere-2025-1674-Hysteresis between groundwater and surface water levels indicates the states of hydrological turnover affecting solute transport and redox processes L. Bäthke https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19771812

Model code and software

Python code for the hysteresis index of Zuecco et al. (2016) F. U. Jehn https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3441882

Short summary

We investigated the interplay between stream stage and near-stream groundwater levels using hysteresis patterns to characterize hydrological turnover (HT) and exchange dynamics. Based on two years of high-resolution data, hysteresis direction and magnitude track seasonal system states. The hysteresis index (h-index) is related to HT and serves as a diagnostic indicator of connectivity, storage, and hyporheic exchange, with implications for biogeochemical processes under drought.