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STREAM CHEMISTRY IN THE SOUTHERN BLUE RIDGE: FEASIBILITY OF A REGIONAL SYNOPTIC SAMPLING APPROACH 1
Author(s) -
Messer Jay J.,
Ariss Charles W.,
Baker John R.,
Drousé Sevdâ K.,
Eshleman Keith N.,
Kinney Andrew J.,
Overton W. Scott,
Sale Michael J.,
Schonbrod Robert D.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
jawra journal of the american water resources association
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.957
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1752-1688
pISSN - 1093-474X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1752-1688.1988.tb00933.x
Subject(s) - streams , nitrate , acid neutralizing capacity , ridge , sulfate , environmental science , sampling (signal processing) , hydrology (agriculture) , population , spring (device) , acid deposition , chemistry , geography , soil science , geology , cartography , geotechnical engineering , computer science , mechanical engineering , computer network , organic chemistry , filter (signal processing) , demography , sociology , engineering , computer vision , soil water
A pilot study, which was conducted in the Southern Blue Ridge geographical province of the Southeastern U.S., demonstrated the feasibility of a probability‐based regional synoptic design for the National Stream Survey, which is a project aimed at estimating the number and percentage of streams in various regions of the U.S. that are acidic or at risk from acid deposition. Estimated population distributions for key chemical variables were not appreciably affected by week‐to‐week variability in stream chemistry during the spring index period chosen for the study. Differences were observed in estimated acid neutralizing capacity (ANC), nitrate, and pH frequency distributions between spring and summer. Observations made at the downstream node did not represent the chemistry of the entire reach for some variables (ANC and nitrate) as indicated by differences in chemical concentrations between upstream and downstream sampling locations. Coefficients of variation in chemical species were low enough to provide a reasonably stable classification of streams based on ANC. Although median ANC, sulfate, and nitrate concentrations were quite low in the region, the probability of finding streams with ph < 6.3 is less than 1.3 percent at the α= 0.05 confidence level.