Population growth away from the coastal zone: thirty years of land use change and nutrient export in the Altamaha River, GA.

نویسندگان

  • Nathaniel B Weston
  • James T Hollibaugh
  • Samantha B Joye
چکیده

We used more than thirty years of water quality monitoring data collected by the United States Geological Survey at several stations in the Altamaha River and its tributaries to examine the relationship between population density, agricultural land use, and nutrient export from the watershed. Population densities in the Altamaha River watershed increased during the study period, most notably in the upper watershed near metropolitan Atlanta, while agricultural land use declined throughout the watershed. NO(x), TN and P in rivers were related to human population densities, while OC and NH(4)(+) concentrations in rivers were apparently related to agricultural land use. A general pattern of increasing NO(x) and TN and decreasing NH(4)(+), P and OC over time throughout the watershed reflected changing population and land use. The overall average load from the Altamaha River to the coastal zone during the study period was 1.1, 5.6, 16.9, 0.9 and 262 kmol km(-2) yr(-1), delivering 40, 197, 596, 30, and 9213.10(6) mol yr(-1) of NH(4)(+), NO(x), TN, P and OC, respectively, to the coastal zone. The nutrient export patterns suggest that N and P loading to rivers in the Altamaha River watershed was greatest in the upper watershed where high population densities were found, and in-stream processing, dilution, and only moderate inputs during transit through the lower watershed resulted in relatively low export from the watershed to coastal waters.

برای دانلود متن کامل این مقاله و بیش از 32 میلیون مقاله دیگر ابتدا ثبت نام کنید

ثبت نام

اگر عضو سایت هستید لطفا وارد حساب کاربری خود شوید

منابع مشابه

Nutrients and Dissolved Organic Matter in the Altamaha River and Loading to the Coastal Zone

Ammonium (NH4 ), nitrate+nitrite (NOx), dissolved inorganic phosphorus (DIP) and dissolved organic carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus (DOC, DON and DOP) were measured in the Altamaha River and several tributaries during a two year period from September 2000 through September 2002. Temporal variations in concentration as well as nutrient and dissolved organic matter loading from the Altamaha to the...

متن کامل

Analysis of land use changes in the middle Taleghan watershed during a thirty year period

In this study, land use change in the middle Taleghan watershed has been studied and analyzed. First, the land use map of Taleghan Mian watershed was prepared during the last thirty years in four years 1987, 1998, 2008 and 2017. Landsat satellite imagery was used to prepare land use map in four years. In this research, the hybrid classification method (combination of supervized and unsupervized...

متن کامل

Time variations analysis of the Hormoz strait northern shoreline by using Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS)

 Extended abstract 1- Introduction  Coastal systems are very dynamic, and their movement is relatively fast due to the collision of onshore and marine environment. The majority of the world's population is concentrated along with the coastal areas. Hormuz Strait coasts are affected by morphological variables due to the hydrodynamics of the sea and the dynamics of coastal and onshore environme...

متن کامل

Simulation and prediction of land use and land cover change using GIS, remote sensing and CA-Markov model

This study analyzes the characteristics of land use/land cover change in Jordan’s Irbid governorate, 1984–2018, and predicts future land use/land cover for 2030 and 2050 using a cellular automata-Markov model. The results inform planners and decision makers of past and current spatial dynamics of land use/land cover change and predicted urban expansion, for a better understanding and successful...

متن کامل

Multi-Temporal Assessment of Mangrove Forests Change in the Coastal Areas of Bushehr Region Based on Landsat Satellite Imagery

Continual access to precise information about the land use/land cover (LULC) changes of the Earth’s surface is extremely important for any sustainable development program in which LULC serves as one of the major input criteria. In this study, a supervised classification was applied to three Landsat images collected in 1986, 1998and 2018, providing mangrove forests change data in the coastal are...

متن کامل

ذخیره در منابع من


  با ذخیره ی این منبع در منابع من، دسترسی به آن را برای استفاده های بعدی آسان تر کنید

برای دانلود متن کامل این مقاله و بیش از 32 میلیون مقاله دیگر ابتدا ثبت نام کنید

ثبت نام

اگر عضو سایت هستید لطفا وارد حساب کاربری خود شوید

عنوان ژورنال:
  • The Science of the total environment

دوره 407 10  شماره 

صفحات  -

تاریخ انتشار 2009