Sediment Fingerprinting to Delineate Sources of Sediment in the Agricultural and Forested Smith Creek Watershed, Virginia, USA

Sediment Fingerprinting to Delineate Sources of Sediment in the Agricultural and Forested Smith Creek Watershed, Virginia, USA

The sediment fingerprinting approach was used to apportion fine‐grained sediment to cropland, pasture, forests, and streambanks in the agricultural and forested Smith Creek, watershed, Virginia. Smith Creek is a showcase study area in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, where management actions to reduce...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of the American Water Resources Association Vol. 54; no. 6; pp. 1197 - 1221
Main Authors: Gellis, A.C., Gorman Sanisaca, L.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Middleburg Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01-12-2018
Subjects:
Agricultural land
Agricultural management
bank erosion
Chesapeake Bay
Coastal inlets
Downstream
Erosion
Fingerprinting
Forest watersheds
Forests
Mineral nutrients
Nutrients
Pasture
Riverbanks
Sediment
Sediment fingerprinting
Sediment load
Sediment sources
sediment TMDL
Sediments
Soil management
Stream banks
Stream erosion
Suspended sediments
Upstream
Watershed management
United States > US
Virginia
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Summary:The sediment fingerprinting approach was used to apportion fine‐grained sediment to cropland, pasture, forests, and streambanks in the agricultural and forested Smith Creek, watershed, Virginia. Smith Creek is a showcase study area in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, where management actions to reduce nutrients and sediment are being monitored. Analyses of suspended sediment at the downstream and upstream sampling sites indicated streambanks were the major source of sediment (76% downstream and 70% upstream). Current management strategies proposed to reduce sediment loadings for Smith Creek do not target streambanks as a source of sediment, whereas the results of this study indicate that management strategies to reduce sediment loads in Smith Creek may be effective if directed toward managing streambank erosion. The results of this study also highlight the utility of sediment fingerprinting as a management tool to identify sediment sources. Research Impact Statement: Sediment fingerprinting helps identify and apportion sediment sources, including sediment derived from top soil and eroding streambanks, which are often overlooked sources of sediment to streams.
ISSN:1093-474X
1752-1688
DOI:10.1111/1752-1688.12680