Hydrologic analysis for ecological risk assessment of watersheds with abandoned mine lands
As part of on-going study of acid mine drainage (AMD), a comprehensive ecological risk assessment was conducted in the Leading Creek Watershed in southeast Ohio. The watershed is influenced by agriculture and active and abandoned coal-mining operations. This work presents a broad overview of several quantitative measures of hydrology and hydraulic watershed properties available for in risk assessment and evaluates their relation to metrics of ecology. Data analysis included statistical comparisons of metrics of ecology, ecotoxicology, water quality, and physically based parameters describing land use, geomorphology, flow, velocity, and particle size. A multiple regression analysis indicated that abandoned mining operations dominated impacts upon aquatic ecology. It also indicated low flow velocity measurements and a ratio of maximum velocity to average velocity at low flow where helpful in describing variation in macroinvertebrate Total Taxa scores. Other key parameters also identified strong impact relationships with biodiversity trends and included pH, simple knowledge of any mining upstream, calculated % of the subshed covered by strip mines, and the measured depth of streambed sediments from site to site.
- Research Organization:
- Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA (US)
- OSTI ID:
- 20014789
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: ASCE-CSCE 1999 National Conference on Environmental Engineering, Norfolk, VA (US), 07/25/1999--07/28/1999; Other Information: PBD: 1999; Related Information: In: Environmental engineering 1999, by Schafran, G.C. [ed.], 936 pages.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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