Modeling hydrologic dynamics of a created wetland, Colombia

Abstract Gold mining with mechanical dredges in Colombia has inevitably impacted some natural wetlands, but at the same time has been creating a series of new ecosystems that resemble to some degree, the wetlands that were lost or degraded. However, there is not a clear understanding of the hydrology in this dredged landscape and of how this is related with the created wetland's ecosystem functions. Here we present a dynamic model of the hydrology in one of these created wetlands to calculate water budgets during a wet and dry season and to compare the effect of self design vs engineering design on the hydrological dynamics of the wetland. Water budget results indicated high influence of the surface flows, accounting for more than 95% of all flows. The simulations ran to assess the individual and combined effects of self design and engineering design suggested that a combined approach that uses both techniques is most effective in the regulation of surface inflows. The implications for ecosystem recovery and functioning due to this improved hydrological regulation are discussed and finally, some suggestions for future mining operations are presented.