What mainly controls recession flows in river basins?

• This study compares results from two contrasting recession flow models.
• BD aquifer model does not capture three key recession curve properties correctly.
• Recession flow is possibly controlled by the organization of various storage units.

The ubiquity of the power law relationship between dQ/dtdQ/dt and Q   for recession periods (-dQ/dt=kQα,Q-dQ/dt=kQα,Q being discharge at the basin outlet at time t  ) clearly hints at the existence of a dominant recession flow process that is common to all real basins. It is commonly assumed that a basin, during recession events, functions as a single phreatic aquifer resting on a impermeable horizontal bed or the Dupuit–Boussinesq (DB) aquifer, and with time different aquifer geometric conditions arise that give different values of αα and k  . The recently proposed alternative model, geomorphological recession flow model, however, suggests that recession flows are controlled primarily by the dynamics of the active drainage network (ADN). In this study we use data for several basins and compare the above two contrasting recession flow models in order to understand which of the above two factors dominates during recession periods in steep basins. Particularly, we do the comparison by selecting three key recession flow properties: (1) power law exponent αα, (2) dynamic dQ/dtdQ/dt–Q relationship (characterized by k  ) and (3) recession timescale (time period for which a recession event lasts). Our observations suggest that neither drainage from phreatic aquifers nor evapotranspiration significantly controls recession flows. Results show that the value of αα and recession timescale are not modeled well by DB aquifer model. However, the above mentioned three recession curve properties can be captured satisfactorily by considering the dynamics of the ADN as described by geomorphological recession flow model, possibly indicating that the ADN represents not just phreatic aquifers but the organization of various sub-surface storage systems within the basin.