Surface depressions are important topographic features, which affect overland flow, infiltration, and other hydrologic processes. Specifically, depressions undergo filling-spilling-merging-splitting processes under natural rainfall conditions, featuring discontinuity in hydrologic connectivity and variability in contributing area. However, a constant and time-invariant contributing area is often assumed in traditional hydrologic modeling, and consequently, the real threshold-controlled overland flow dynamics cannot be captured. The overall goal of this dissertation research is to improve hydrologic modeling, especially for depression-dominated areas, by quantifying the hydrologic effects of depressions. The specific objectives are to analyze the hydrotopographic characteristics of depressions and identify the intrinsic relationships of hydrologic variables, develop new modeling methods to simulate the depression-oriented dynamics in overland flow and variations in contributing area, and reveal the influence of spatially distributed depressions on the surface runoff generation and propagation processes. To achieve these objectives, three studies were conducted: (1) the frequency distribution of depression storage capacities was determined and a puddle-based unit (PBU)-probability distribution model (PDM) was developed; (2) the intrinsic changing patterns of contributing area and depression storage were identified, based on which a new depression-oriented variable contributing area (D-VCA) model was developed; and (3) a modified D-VCA (MD-VCA) model was further developed by introducing a depressional time-area zone scheme and a new variable contributing area-based surface runoff routing technique to account for the spatial distribution of depressions. These three models (PBU-PDM, D-VCA, and MD-VCA) were evaluated through the applications to depression-dominated watersheds in North Dakota, and simulation results demonstrated their capabilities in simulating the variations of contributing areas and threshold-controlled overland flow dynamics. In addition, these three studies emphasized the important roles of depressions in the evolution of contributing areas as well as surface runoff generation and propagation. Without considering the spatial distribution of depressions, the formation of contributing area and the timing and quantity of runoff contributions cannot be characterized.