We found a match
Your institution may have rights to this item. Sign in to continue.
- Title
Evaporation as a nutrient retention mechanism at Sycamore Creek, Arizona.
- Authors
McLaughlin, Christine
- Abstract
Studies of nutrient cycling in streams have typically focused on patterns and mechanisms of retention because retention can result in temporary or permanent removal of biologically important nutrients. Biogeochemical studies of nitrate in stream ecosystems have focused primarily on biotic uptake and sequestration, while little is known about abiotic mechanisms of nitrogen retention. Evaporation is one abiotic mechanism that can contribute to nutrient retention with nutrients stored as precipitated solutes in sandbars. The objective of this study was to assess the significance of evaporation-driven nitrate retention in sandbars to reach-scale nutrient budgets at Sycamore Creek, Arizona. The vertical profile of chloride and nitrate evaporties were used as a tool to evaluate abiotic retention. I found that salts accumulated in surface layers (0–2 cm) of exposed sandbar sediments. Calculated evaporative retention rate was 0.7–5.4% of average rate of uptake by biota in the surface stream. However, the area of influence of these two mechanisms varies greatly. Taking into account this spatial and seasonal variation in areal extent of the surface stream versus exposed sandbar surfaces, evaporite formation accounted for 14.8% of retention in the study reach and up to 46.0% of annual retention compared to instream biotic uptake. Nitrate retention via evaporation is important because of the temporary disconnection of nutrients stored in sandbars to the surface stream delaying further biological processing until hydrological reconnection occurs.
- Subjects
SYCAMORE Creek (Maricopa County, Ariz.); ARIZONA; EVAPORATION (Meteorology); PLANT nutrients; SAND bars; NITRATES; CHLORIDES
- Publication
Hydrobiologia, 2008, Vol 603, Issue 1, p241
- ISSN
0018-8158
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s10750-007-9275-y