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Title: Biomass production in the Lower Mississippi River Basin: Mitigating associated nutrient and sediment discharge to the Gulf of Mexico

Journal Article · · Science of the Total Environment
 [1];  [2];  [1]
  1. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Lemont, IL (United States)
  2. U.S. Army Engineer R&D Center, Vicksburg, MS (United States)
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Here, a watershed model was developed using the Soil andWater Assessment Tool (SWAT) that simulates nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment loadings in the Lower Mississippi River Basin (LMRB). The LMRB SWAT model was calibrated and validated using 21 years of observed flow, sediment, and water-quality data. The baseline model results indicate that agricultural lands within the Lower Mississippi River Basin (LMRB) are the dominant sources of nitrogen and phosphorus discharging into the Gulf of Mexico. The model was further used to evaluate the impact of biomass production, in the presence of riparian buffers in the LMRB, on suspended-sediment and nutrient loading discharge from the Mississippi River into the Gulf of Mexico. The interplay among land use, riparian buffers, crop type, land slope, water quality, and hydrology were anlyzed at various scales. Implementing a riparian buffer in the dominant agricultural region within the LMRB could reduce suspended sediment, nitrogen, and phosphorus loadings at the regional scale by up to 65%, 38%, and 39%, respectively. Implementation of this land management practice can reduce the suspended-sediment content and improve the water quality of the discharge from the LMRB into the Gulf of Mexico and support the potential production of bioenergy and bio-products within the Mississippi River Basin.

Research Organization:
Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Sustainable Transportation Office. Bioenergy Technologies Office
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-06CH11357
OSTI ID:
1467637
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1548442
Journal Information:
Science of the Total Environment, Vol. 635, Issue C; ISSN 0048-9697
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 11 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (2)

Assessing Anthropogenic Impacts on Chemical and Biochemical Oxygen Demand in Different Spatial Scales with Bayesian Networks journal January 2020
Recognizing economic value in multifunctional buffers in the lower Mississippi river basin: The value proposition of multi-functional riparian buffers journal August 2018

Figures / Tables (12)

Figure 1(p. 7)figure Figure 1
Figure 2(p. 9)figure Figure 2
Table 1(p. 11)table Table 1
Figure 3(p. 15)figure Figure 3
Table 2(p. 16)table Table 2
Figure 4(p. 17)figure Figure 4
Table 3(p. 17)table Table 3
Figure 5(p. 19)figure Figure 5
Figure 6.(p. 21)figure Figure 6.
Figure 7.(p. 22)figure Figure 7.
Figure 8.(p. 24)figure Figure 8.
Figure 9.(p. 27)figure Figure 9.

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Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
Riparian buffer
SWAT
Hydrologic modeling
Water quality
Nutrient loading
Mississippi River Basin