|
iDEA: Drexel E-repository and Archives >
Drexel Theses and Dissertations >
Drexel Theses and Dissertations >
Impact of urbanization on the transient storage characteristics, phosphorus uptake dynamics and community metabolism of Valley Creek (The)
Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:
http://hdl.handle.net/1860/321
|
| Title: | Impact of urbanization on the transient storage characteristics, phosphorus uptake dynamics and community metabolism of Valley Creek (The) |
| Authors: | Ryan, Robert J. |
| Keywords: | Civil and architectural engineering.
Environmental engineering.
Urbanization – Environmental aspects. |
| Issue Date: | 30-Jun-2004 |
| Abstract: | This work was conducted as part of a comprehensive investigation of the effects of
urbanization on the Valley Creek watershed, located in Chester County approximately
30km west of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The goal of this research was to monitor the
impacts of perturbations caused by urbanization as those impacts were carried through the
ecosystem. Results from field experiments are presented which clearly demonstrate that
the fine sediment fraction of the stream bed controls hydraulic conductivity and hyporheic
exchange in this gravel- and cobble-bed, piedmont stream. The laboratory results of
Packman and MacKay (2003) were confirmed with results from field experiments at a site
in which the fraction of the fine (d < 2 mm) bed sediment with d < 50 µm increased from
6% to 25% while the hydraulic conductivity decreased by a factor of two, the hyporheic
exchange rate decreased by an order of magnitude and the hyporheic area decreased by a
factor of four. These results were obtained by estimating hydraulic conductivity of the
stream bed from the d10 of the fine sediment fraction and using a method presented by
Wörman et al. (2002) in which hyporheic residence time scaled by hydraulic conductivity
and stream depth is a function of stream velocity and channel characteristics. The
phosphorus uptake rate, the gross primary productivity rate, and the community respiration
rate were each shown to increase linearly with the hyporheic exchange rate at this site. At
a less severely impacted site, the phosphorus uptake rate was controlled by a combination
of the hyporheic exchange rate, the fraction of the fine bed sediments with d < 50 µm), and
the aluminum content of the fine bed sediments. These results extend and expand on the
results of Mulholland et al. (1997), who reported that streams with larger hyporheic storage
zones have higher phosphorus uptake rates (s-1); Fellows et al. (2001) who reported higher
community and hyporheic respiration rates (mg O2 m-2 d-1) in streams with larger hyporheic
storage zones; and Hall et al. (2002) who found no relationship between phosphorus uptake
and hyporheic storage area in a stream with little biological phosphorus uptake. |
| URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/1860/321 |
| Appears in Collections: | Drexel Theses and Dissertations
|
Items in iDEA are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.
|
www.drexel.edu
