Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Publications
Campus Units
Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering
Document Type
Article
Publication Version
Published Version
Publication Date
12-13-2018
Journal or Book Title
Journal of Environmental Quality
Research Focus Area(s)
Land and Water Resources Engineering
DOI
10.2134/jeq2018.07.0265
Abstract
The site-specific nature of P fate and transport in drained areas exemplifies the need for additional data to guide implementation of conservation practices at the catchment scale. Total P (TP), dissolved reactive P (DRP), and total suspended solids (TSS) were monitored at five sites—two streams, two tile outlets, and a grassed waterway—in three agricultural subwatersheds (221.2–822.5 ha) draining to Black Hawk Lake in western Iowa. Median TP concentrations ranged from 0.034 to 1.490 and 0.008 to 0.055 mg P L−1 for event and baseflow samples, respectively. The majority of P and TSS export occurred during precipitation events and high-flow conditions with greater than 75% of DRP, 66% of TP, and 59% of TSS export occurring during the top 25% of flows from all sites. In one subwatershed, a single event (annual recurrence interval < 1 yr) was responsible for 46.6, 84.0, and 81.0% of the annual export of TP, DRP, and TSS, respectively, indicating that frequent, small storms have the potential to result in extreme losses. Isolated monitoring of surface and drainage transport pathways indicated significant P and TSS losses occurring through drainage; over the 2-yr study period, the drainage pathway was responsible for 69.8, 59.2, and 82.6% of the cumulative TP, DRP, and TSS export, respectively. Finally, the results provided evidence that particulate P losses in drainage were greater than dissolved P losses. Understanding relationships between flow, precipitation, transport pathway, and P fraction at the catchment scale is needed for effective conservation practice implementation.
Access
Open
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Copyright Owner
American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America and Soil Science Society of America
Copyright Date
2018
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Brendel, Conrad E.; Soupir, Michelle L.; Long, Leigh Ann M.; Helmers, Matthew J.; Ikenberry, Charles D.; and Kaleita, Amy L., "Catchment-scale Phosphorus Export through Surface and Drainage Pathways" (2018). Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Publications. 979.
https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/abe_eng_pubs/979
Included in
Agriculture Commons, Bioresource and Agricultural Engineering Commons, Civil Engineering Commons, Environmental Monitoring Commons
Comments
This article is published as Brendel, Conrad E., Michelle L. Soupir, Leigh Ann M. Long, Matthew J. Helmers, Charles D. Ikenberry, and Amy L. Kaleita. "Catchment-scale Phosphorus Export through Surface and Drainage Pathways." Journal of Environmental Quality (2018). DOI: 10.2134/jeq2018.07.0265. Posted with permission.