Office of Research and Development Publications

CONCENTRATIONS AND ESTIMATED LOADS OF NITROGEN CONTRIBUTED BY TWO ADJACENT WETLAND STREAMS WITH DIFFERENT FLOW-SOURCE TERMS IN WATKINSVILLE, GA

Citation:

SCHROER, K., D. M. ENDALE, C. T. STEVENS, J. W. WASHINGTON, AND V. NZENGUNG. CONCENTRATIONS AND ESTIMATED LOADS OF NITROGEN CONTRIBUTED BY TWO ADJACENT WETLAND STREAMS WITH DIFFERENT FLOW-SOURCE TERMS IN WATKINSVILLE, GA. In Proceedings, Georgia Water Resources Conference, Athens, GA, March 27 - 29, 2007. Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 1-4, (2007).

Impact/Purpose:

Improve the scientific understanding of the processes controlling nutrient distributions in surface waters. Produce a suite of enhanced models for characterizing nutrient distributions in surface waters by incorporating improved process understanding in existing models (e.g., WASP), by developing new models (e.g., WHAM, reactive transport), and improving linkages between model components.

Description:

Inorganic, fixed nitrogen from agricultural settings often is introduced to first-order streams via surface runoff and shallow ground-water flow. Best management practices for limiting the flux of fixed N to surface waters often include buffers such as wetlands. However, the efficacy of wetlands to immobilize or reduce nitrate depends on several interacting local conditions that are not well understood. Two adjacent streams (14 m apart at source) draining a wetland depression have partly different flow-source terms. One has a flowing spring at its head-cut, and is protected by surface runoff by a man-made berm. The other accepts run-off from the upland pasture and does not have a conspicuous spring. The lower discharge, and higher organic substrate, residence times and water/sediment contact all apparently contribute to the lower nitrogen flux out of the runoff stream.

Record Details:

Record Type:DOCUMENT( PAPER IN NON-EPA PROCEEDINGS)
Product Published Date:03/27/2007
Record Last Revised:10/01/2008
OMB Category:Other
Record ID: 165923