Nicolas Viveros
Intro to GIS
Assignment 2
Topic: The effect of different land-uses of stream nitrate concentrations
Summary: This project looks at how different land-uses effect stream nitrate
concentrations. The premise is that due to transport processes, anthropogenic inputs of
nitrogen will drain into streams. The level of anthropogenic nitrate input should depend
on the particular land-use. Thus, the level of nitrogen found in streams that drain a given
catchment should depend on the land-use(s) found within the surrounding drainage basin.
Thus, one would expect that land-uses with high N-input – agricultural (fertilizers,
manure), urban (fertilizers, pesticides, etc…) should have streams with higher nitrogen
levels than those surrounded by low N-input land-uses such as forested/pristine.
Geographic/Spatial Questions:
- How do the land-uses located within the catchment of a sampling site along a
stream effect the level of nitrate-N at that site?
- Does the proximity of the land-uses determine the degree to which they affect this
nitrogen level? In other words, do land-use found closer to the sampling site have
a stronger effect on the level than do land-uses located at a farther distance?
- Does the size of the catchment matter in determining the N-level?
- Do sampling sites further downstream show higher or lower nitrogen levels? And
why, is it based on the land-use found upstream of the point?
References:
http://www.chesapeakebay.net/, http://www.ars.usda.gov/main/main.htm
Baird C. 1998. Environmental chemistry. New York (NY): Madison Avenue. p. 439.
Berner EK, Berner RA. a1996. Global environment. Upper Saddle River (NJ): p. 222-3.
Berner EK, Berner RA. b1996. Global environment. Upper Saddle River (NJ): p. 102.
Black PE. Watershed Hydrology. 1996. Chelsea (MI): South Main Street: p. 210.
Canter WL. a1997. Nitrates in Groundwater. Boca Raton (FL): Corporate Blvd. p. 5,7.
Canter WL. b1997. Nitrates in Groundwater. Boca Raton (FL): Corporate Blvd. p. 4, 5,7.
Canter WL. c1997. Nitrates in Groundwater. Boca Raton (FL): Corporate Blvd. p. 5, 31.
Chesapeake Bay Program [Internet]. [updated 2008 Feb 15] Chesapeake Eco-check
[citied 2008 Jul 22] Available from: http://www.ecocheck.org/reportcard/chesapeake/2007/overview/
Department of Environmental Protection Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (PADEP).
2003. Pennsylvania’s Chesapeake Bay tributary strategy goals for nutrient and sediment
reduction and habitat restoration. Fact Sheet 3940-FS-DEP3117.
Donner DS, Scavia D. 2007. How climate controls the flux of nitrogen by the Mississippi
River and the development of hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico. Limnol Oceanogr
52(2):856-861.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). 2007. Volunteer stream monitoring: a methods
manual. Office of Water EPA 841-B-97-003.
Holloway JM, Dahlgren RA. 1999. Geologic nitrogen in terrestrial biogeochemical
cycling. Geology 27(6):567-570.
Kleinman PJA, Srinivasan MS, Dell CJ, Schmidt JP, Sharpley AN, Bryant RB. 2006.
Role of rainfall intensity and hydrology in nutrient transport via surface runoff. J Environ
Qual 35:1248-1259.
Lancaster County Conservancy [Internet]. [updated 2008 Jul 22] Lancaster (PA): Our
properties [citied 2008 Jul 22] Available from:
http://www.lancasterconservancy.org/properties.htm
Mulholland PJ, et al. 2008. Stream denitrification across biomes and its response to
anthropogenic nitrate loading. Nature 452:202-205.
Multi-resolution land characteristics consortium (MRLC) [Internet]. [updated 2008 May
15] USGS [citied 2008 Jul 22] Available from: http://www.mrlc.gov/index.php
National Atmospheric Depositional Program (NADP) [Internet]. [update unknown]
Monitoring location PA47 [citied 2008 Jul 22] Available from:
http://nadp.sws.uiuc.edu/sites/siteinfo.asp?net=NTN&id=PA47
PADEP. 2008. 2008 annual drinking water quality report, city of Lancaster, PA.
Peterson BJ, et al. 2001. Control of nitrogen export from watersheds by headwater
streams. Science 292:86-90.
Polan A. 2007. The effect of precipitation on water quality across different land uses in
Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Millersville University student paper (unpublished).
Poor CJ, McDonnell JJ. 2007. The effects of land use on stream nitrate dynamics. Journal
of Hydrology 332:54-68.
Schilling KE, Spooner J. 2006. Effects of watershed-scale land use change on stream
nitrate concentrations. J Environ Qual 35:2132-2145.
Schilling K, Zang Y-K. 2004. Baseflow contribution to nitrate-nitrogen export from a
large, agricultural watershed, USA. Journal of Hydrology 295:305-316.
Tu J, Xia Z. 2006. Assesing the impact of land use changes on water quality across
multiple spatial scales in eastern Massachusetts. Middle States Geographer 39:34-42.
USGS. 1999. Nitrogen concentrations and deposition in rainfall at two sites in the Coastal
Bend area, south Texas, 1996-98. Fact Sheet FS-146-99.
Wang P, Linker LC, Batiuk R, Cerco C, A.M.ASCE. Surface analysis of Chesapeake Bay
water quality response to different nutrient and sediment loads. J Environ Engineering
132(3):377-383.
GIS Data sources:
Cheasapeak bay program (free): ftp://ftp.chesapeakebay.net/pub/Geographic/
USGS Database (I believe its free): http://edc.usgs.gov/products/landcover/lulc.html
National Land Cover Dataset (Do not know): http://www.epa.gov/mrlc/