Multi-method assessment of river-aquifer interaction in lowland floodplains across spatial scales

Lowland rivers and shallow aquifers are closely coupled. They exchange water, solute and heat across the interface through physical, chemical and biological processes. The interactions are highly dynamic and the driving mechanisms are complex. The aim of this PhD work is to improve our understanding about the hydrological processes between rivers and aquifers, and to estimate the exchange fluxes between them in the Zwarte Beek, the Herk-Mombeek, and the Dijle catchments, using a combination of multiple field methods and development of novel approaches across spatial scales. The combination of multiple methods in this research can improve and advance the understanding of river and aquifer interactions more in depth and in coverage, and it solves partly the scale challenges for studying river-aquifer interactions. A fully-integrated surface and subsurface hydrological model is recommended, which can integrate different approaches in a more robust and holist way, for future research.