Conceptualización de procesos de generación de escorrentía mediante el uso de trazadores ambientales en cuencas de páramo a meso-escala del río Quinuas

Abstract

The Andean paramo ecosystem plays a fundamental role in the supply of water resources for the inter-Andean valleys since it covers the demand of the domestic, industrial and energetic sectors. As a result, the water requirement generates negative pressure on the ecosystem, affecting its regeneration rate. Identifying the main sources of runoff within a hydrological system allows to focus efforts and resources for the conservation of these points. In return, it ensures the provision of water. The following study has determined how the precipitation regime and geomorphological characteristics within the Quinuas River basin (91.3 Km2), located in the Cajas National Park, influence its hydrological functioning. The use of conservative tracers allowed the understanding of the hidrogeoecological dynamics of watersheds, and when combined with transfer functions, they estimated mean transit times (MTT) and defined the processes of mixing flow on internal levels. Thus, it was obtained as a result that the precipitation that enters the system is combined with the water stored in the soils and flows into the exit of the basins. Consequently, it was determined that the lagoons are influential in transit time of the water. Finally, the topography that makes up the terrain allows the generation of runoff through the superficial layers of the andosols, defining the dynamics between the external factors (landscape) and internal factors (mixing processes), achieving a real conceptualization for the studied catchment area.