CORP Author |
Smithsonian Institution, Edgewater, Md. Chesapeake Bay Center for Environmental Studies. ;Chesapeake Research Consortium, Inc., Baltimore, Md.;National Science Foundation, Washington, D.C. Research Applied to National Needs.;Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C. |
Abstract |
This study attempts to: (1) Determine the water quality (metals composition) in the streams of the Rhode River watershed; (2) estimate the chemical loadings of certain metals due to land runoff from test watershed basins; (3) investigate the relationship between land utilization type and metals area yield; (4) determine the input sources of heavy metals in the runoff water; and (5) study the transport mechanism of metals. In order to study the effect of land utilization on the metals discharge to the receiving water, the land use analysis of each basin was compared with the metals discharge. The metals studied included iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), Zinc (Zn), chromium (Cr), cadmium (Cd), copper (Cu), and lead (Pb). Potassium (K), calcium (Ca), and magnesium (Mg) were also intensively studied because of the large quantities applied to agricultural land as plant nutrients. Calculation of the area yield loading rate of a single land use category was attempted with a statistical modeling system. Small field size basins are now also used to derive area yield loading rates from each land use category. |