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The Stratification Analysis of Sediment Data for Lake Michigan
Citation:
XIA, X. AND D. H. MILLER. The Stratification Analysis of Sediment Data for Lake Michigan. ECOLOGICAL MODELLING. Elsevier Science BV, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 9(2):181-203, (2011).
Impact/Purpose:
The findings presented in this paper will impact future studies of the distribution of sediment measurements in large lake systems including the Great Lakes. In addition, the findings in this study suggest that it is critical to utilize stratification of sediment measurements when simulating the distribution of sediment variables within a modeled grid for applications that emphasize sediment and water exchange, such as eutrophication, bioaccumulation, and ecosystem productivity models.
Description:
This research paper describes the development of spatial statistical tools that are applied to investigate the spatial trends of sediment data sets for nutrients and carbon in Lake Michigan. All of the sediment data utilized in the present study was collected over a two year period at 116 sampling locations in Lake Michigan, and represent surficial sediment. The data, which consists of box cores, gravity cores and ponars, provides a thorough coverage of the lake bed appropriate for geospatial statistical methods. Within the present study, several novel spatial measurements are derived and utilized to quantify spatial variation of sediment data sets for multiple variables including total phosphorus, sodium hydroxide extractable phosphorus, total organic nitrogen, biogenic silica, and organic carbon. The applications of the newly derived spatial measurements on the sediment data can be used in conjunction with descriptive statistics, and clearly reveal the existence of the intrinsic structure of strata-which is also hypothesized based upon Linear Wave Theory. Stratification of the Lake Michigan sediment into a three-zone strata and a two-zone strata is investigated and justified based upon water column depth. The findings presented in this paper will impact future studies of the distribution of sediment measurements in large lake systems including the Great Lakes. In addition, the findings in this study suggest that it is critical to utilize stratification of sediment measurements when simulating the distribution of sediment variables within a modeled grid for applications that emphasize sediment and water exchange, such as eutrophication, bioaccumulation, and ecosystem productivity models.