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Chemostatic behaviour of major ions and contaminants in a semiarid spring and stream system near Los Alamos, NM, USA
Author(s) -
Koger Jace M.,
Newman Brent D.,
Goering Timothy J.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
hydrological processes
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.222
H-Index - 161
eISSN - 1099-1085
pISSN - 0885-6087
DOI - 10.1002/hyp.11624
Subject(s) - environmental science , environmental chemistry , spring (device) , streams , contamination , lithology , hydrology (agriculture) , residence time (fluid dynamics) , pollution , chemistry , geology , ecology , geochemistry , mechanical engineering , computer network , geotechnical engineering , computer science , engineering , biology
Recent studies have focused on the relationship between solute concentrations and discharge in streams, demonstrating that concentrations can vary little relative to changes in discharge (chemostatic behaviour). Chemostatic behaviour is dependent on catchment characteristics (e.g., lithology, geomorphology, and vegetation) and chemical characteristics of the solute (e.g., availability, reactivity, and mobility). An investigation of 3 springs and a stream near Los Alamos, NM, reveals that springs can behave in a chemostatic fashion as stream systems tend to do. Another unique finding of this study is that the anthropogenic contaminants barium and the high explosive RDX (hexahydro‐1,3,5‐trinitro‐1,3,5‐triazine) can also behave chemostatically. The chemostatic behaviour of a contaminant has important implications for the residence time of contaminants in a system as well as having a major control on contaminant flux and mass transport. Redox (reduction–oxidation) and biogeochemically sensitive analytes (e.g., Fe, SO 4 , and NO 3 ) display a combination of chemostatic and chemodynamic behaviour, showing the influence of temporally variable conditions on stream and spring chemistries.