Sources of acidity in Maryland coastal plain streams. Final report

Technical Report · Thu Feb 01 04:00:00 EST 1990

OSTI ID:6728872

Janicki, A; Bonoff, M; Lynch, J; Morgan, M; Thornton, K

The study examined potential sources of acidity in Maryland Coastal Plain streams sampled during the Maryland Synoptic Stream Chemistry Survey. An analytical framework was developed to partition the potential anthropogenic contributions to stream acidity, and to examine the influence of land use, geology, and soils on stream chemistry. A model which used acid neutralizing capacity (ANC) and conductivity to classify 181 Coastal Plain streams was employed. The streams were classified into four groups: Group 1: low ANC, low conductivity; Group 2: high ANC, low conductivity; Group 3: high ANC, high conductivity; Group 4: low ANC, high conductivity. A discriminant analysis was used to test whether watershed characteristics alone could verify the a priori classification based on ANC and conductivity. The results from the analysis indicate that geology, soils, and land use data can be used to predict ANC and conductivity with a relatively high degree of certainty.

• Research Organization: Coastal Environmental Services, Inc., Linthicum, MD (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6728872
• Report Number(s): PB-90-229261/XAB
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
540320* -- Environment
Aquatic-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (1990-)
ACID NEUTRALIZING CAPACITY
ACIDIFICATION
AIR POLLUTION
CHEMISTRY
COASTAL WATERS
DOCUMENT TYPES
ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS
FEDERAL REGION III
LAND USE
MARYLAND
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
NORTH AMERICA
POLLUTION
POLLUTION SOURCES
PROGRESS REPORT
SOILS
STREAMS
SURFACE WATERS
USA
WATER CHEMISTRY
WATER POLLUTION