Before and after studies of the effects of a power plant installation on Lake Lyndon B. Johnson. Nutrient and dissolved oxygen dynamics of a short detention time Texas reservoir. Interim report No. 5

Technical Report · Thu Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1976

OSTI ID:6882233

Schnoor, J L; Fruh, E G

Four different approaches (a nutrient mass balance, a nutrient-phytoplankton simulation model, analytical equations describing turbulent diffusion, and a numeric dissolved oxygen model) were utilized to investigate the nutrient and dissolved oxygen dynamics of Lake Lyndon B. Johnson during 1972 to 1973. The factors that were most important to the modeling of a short detention time impoundment were examined. Based on an investigation of chloride and conductivity, the nutrient balance for Lake LBJ required a nonsteady state approach to account for the accumulation of material in the water column.A nonsteady state nutrient-phytoplankton model was developed to link changes of nutrient loadings to phytoplankton standing crops. Simulations showed that increasing the inorganic nutrient loadings increased the phytoplankton and organic nutrient concentrations in the reservoir, but the inorganic concentration remained unchanged. An analysis of analytic equations indicated that vertical turbulent diffusion from anaerobic sediment was an important source of nutrient in the hypolimnion but a small source to the epilimnion and euphotic zone. Using water quality data from above the anaerobic sediment, these models provided a new method to estimate the vertical eddy diffusivity and also the time to reach 95% of steady state concentration. Numerical techniques were utilized to calibrate and verify a temperature-dissolved oxygen model for Lake LBJ in 1972 and 1973. Predictions generally fell within one standard deviation of the diurnal variations of dissolved oxygen. Sediment demand was identified as the greatest sink of dissolved oxygen while reaeration proved to be the greatest source.

• Research Organization: Texas Univ., Austin (USA). Center for Research in Water Resources
• OSTI ID: 6882233
• Report Number(s): CRWR-134; EHE-76-02
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
AQUATIC ORGANISMS
BASELINE ECOLOGY
BIOCHEMICAL OXYGEN DEMAND
BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS
CRYOGENIC FLUIDS
DAILY VARIATIONS
DIFFUSION
ECOLOGY
ELEMENTS
ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS
FLUIDS
HYDROLOGY
LAKES
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
NITROGEN
NONMETALS
NORTH AMERICA
NUTRIENTS
OXYGEN
PHOSPHORUS
PHYTOPLANKTON
PLANKTON
POLLUTION
POWER PLANTS
PRODUCTIVITY
SIMULATION
SOUTHWEST REGION
SURFACE WATERS
TEMPERATURE GRADIENTS
TEXAS
THERMAL EFFLUENTS
THERMAL POLLUTION
THERMAL POWER PLANTS
USA
VARIATIONS