Relationships between landscape characteristics and nonpoint source pollution inputs to coastal estuaries

Journal Article · Sat May 01 04:00:00 EDT 1999 · Environmental Management

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1007/s002679900208· OSTI ID:343575

Basnyat, P; Teeter, L D; Flynn, K M; Lockaby, B G ^[1]

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1. Auburn Univ., AL (United States). School of Forestry

Land-use activities affect water quality by altering sediment, chemical loads, and watershed hydrology. Some land uses may contribute to the maintenance of water quality due to a biogeochemical transformation process. These land-use/land-cover types can serve as nutrient detention zones or as nutrient transformation zones as dissolved or suspended nutrients or sediments move down-stream. Despite research on the effects of individual land-use/land-cover types, very little has been done to analyze the joint contributions of multiple land-use activities. This paper examines a methodology to assess the relationships between land-use complex and nitrate and sediment concentrations [nonpoint source (NPS) pollutants] in streams. In this process, selected basins of the Fish River, Alabama, USA, were delineated, land-use/land-cover types were classified, and contributing zones were identified using geographic information system (GIS) and remote sensing (RS) analysis tools. Water samples collected from these basins were analyzed for selected chemical and physical properties. Based on the contributions of the NPS pollutants, a linkage model was developed.

• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• OSTI ID: 343575
• Journal Information: Environmental Management, Journal Name: Environmental Management Journal Issue: 4 Vol. 23; ISSN EMNGDC; ISSN 0364-152X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
COASTAL WATERS
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
ESTUARIES
LAND USE
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
NITRATES
POLLUTION SOURCES
SEDIMENTS
WATER POLLUTION