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Environmental Earth Sciences

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01-06-2021 | Original Article

Seasonal and stormflow chloride loads in an urban–agricultural watershed in central Illinois, USA

Authors: Andrew Oberhelman, Eric W. Peterson

Published in: Environmental Earth Sciences | Issue 12/2021

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Abstract

Manual and high-frequency measurements (n = 535) of chloride (Cl⁻) along a low-order stream in an urban–agricultural watershed (8% urban, 87% agriculture) were conducted to investigate the importance of stormflow to Cl⁻ transport. Sampling was conducted from February 2018 to February 2019; manual sampling occurred weekly, while stormflows were sampled at high frequency. Total Cl⁻ export was nearly 780,000 kg, of which 42.1% occurred during winter. Stormflows, which represented 19% of the period, contributed 57.6% of the total Cl⁻ load. The importance of stormflows varied seasonally; winter and spring storms exported nearly half of total Cl⁻, 29.1% and 18.2% respectively, while summer (8.2%) and fall storm (2.1%) events account for only ~ 10% of total export. A substantial portion of Cl⁻ export, 43.4%, also occurred during baseflow, likely from accumulation of Cl⁻ related to road salt and KCl fertilizer in groundwater. The results identified two periods of elevated Cl⁻ concentrations: (1) flushing of road salt from impervious surfaces during and immediately following the cold season and (2) transport of salt accumulated from the dry season. Elevated discharges associated with summer and fall stormflows when road salt was not present did not generate similar Cl⁻ loads, despite peak discharge values larger than those measured in the winter and spring. The lack of deicing application and a shift to stored Cl⁻ during the summer stormflows created a discharge–load relationship that reached an asymptote where further increases in discharge do not correspond with increased Cl⁻ load.

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Title: Seasonal and stormflow chloride loads in an urban–agricultural watershed in central Illinois, USA
Authors: Andrew Oberhelman
Eric W. Peterson
Publication date: 01-06-2021
Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in: Environmental Earth Sciences / Issue 12/2021
Print ISSN: 1866-6280
Electronic ISSN: 1866-6299
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-021-09744-x

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