We examined benthic condition in three small watersheds in the Chesapeake Bay. Characterization of benthic condition was based on the combined measurements of benthic fauna, sediment toxicity, and sediment contaminant loads. Significant differences between watersheds were detected for sediment contaminant concentrations and water quality. The intensity of benthic impairment was greatest in the ...

Over millions of years, the oxidation of organic carbon contained within sedimentary rocks is one of the main sources of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, yet the controls on this emission remain poorly constrained. We use rhenium to track the oxidation of rock-bound organic carbon in the mountain watersheds of New Zealand, where high rates of physical erosion expose rocks to chemical weatherin...

Stream-bank vegetation significantly influences the morphology of streams in the Piedmont region of the United States. We surveyed the morphology of 26 paired stream reaches in southeastern Pennsylvania, northern Maryland, and Delaware. One member of each pair has a forested riparian zone, whereas the other has a riparian zone composed primarily of grass. The paired reaches are nearly contiguou...

The water erosion prediction project (WEPP) model is a physically-based hydrology and erosion model. In recent years, the hydrology prediction within the model has been improved for forest watershed modeling by incorporating shallow lateral flow into watershed runoff prediction. This has greatly improved WEPP’s hydrologic performance on small watersheds with seasonal flows, but the current vers...

Pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (py-GC/MS) is an analytical tool used to produce a ‘‘fingerprint’’ of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in water. Py-GC/MS fingerprinting was used in this research to lend insight into the complex subsurface hydrology of a permafrost-dominated watershed near Fairbanks, AK. Fingerprinting analysis was conducted on groundwater, artesian spring, and stre...

This report reflects the number and boundary delineations of earlier work done by the Minnesota River Assessment Project (MRAP), in which the Minnesota River Basin was divided into thirteen major watersheds. The majority of these watersheds contain the drainage area of only one of the Minnesota River's major tributaries, while the others contain a given reach of the Minnesota River as well as t...

When developing a watershed plan, it is useful to consider how watersheds are configured. The term management unit is used to describe watersheds and their smaller segments. The two management units that will be focused upon in this handbook are the watershed and the subwatershed. A watershed can be defined as the land area that contributes runoff to a particular point along a waterway. A typic...