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1995 MARYLAND BIOLOGICAL STREAM SURVEY WATER CHEMISTRY (WCHEM95)
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THE MARYLAND BIOLOGICAL STREAM SURVEY (MBSS) IS A MULTI-YEAR PROBABILITY-BASED SAMPLING PROGRAM DESIGNED TO ASSESS THE STATUS OF BIOLOGICAL RESOURCES IN NON-TIDAL STREAMS OF MARYLAND. THE MBSS STUDY AREA COMPRISES EIGHTEEN DRAINAGE BASINS ACROSS THE STATE OF MARYLAND, PROVIDING BIOLOGICAL, WATER CHEMISTRY, AND PHYSICAL HABITAT DATA FOR APPROXIMATELY 300 FIRST- THROUGH THIRD-ORDER STREAM SITES PER YEAR. 1995 WAS THE FIRST YEAR OF FULL IMPLEMENTATION OF THE MBSS, WITH ALL BASINS TO BE SAMPLED DURING 1995-1997. BEGINNING IN 1995, THE PROGRAM IMPLEMENTED A REVISED SAMPLING DESIGN, BASED ON RESULTS OF THE EARLIER 1994 MBSS DEMONSTRATION PROJECT. MBSS 1995 SAMPLING WAS CONDUCTED IN SIX BASINS: YOUGHIOGHENY, UPPER POTOMAC, LOWER POTOMAC, PATAPSCO, CHESTER, AND NANTICOKE-WICOMICO. THIS DATA SET (WCHEM95) CONTAINS WATER CHEMISTRY DATA FROM SPRING INDEX PERIOD SAMPLING. SAMPLES COLLECTED DURING THIS PERIOD WERE ANALYZED IN THE LABORATORY FOR PH, ACID NEUTRALIZING CAPACITY (ANC), SULFATE, NITRATE, CONDUCTIVITY AND DISSOLVED ORGANIC CARBON (DOC). THESE VARIABLES DESCRIBE BASIC WATER QUALITY CONDITIONS WITH AN EMPHASIS ON CHANGES RELATED TO ACIDIC DEPOSITION. DATA ARE FROM THE 1995 MBSS SAMPLING YEAR.