An Analysis of Surface Water Nutrient Concentrations in the Shark River Slough, 1972-1980
Flora MD and Rosendahl PC. 1982. An Analysis of Surface Water Nutrient Concentrations in the Shark River Slough, 1972-1980. SFRC T-653. South Florida Natural Resources Center. Homestead, Florida
Everglades National Park, located at the southern tip of Florida, consists of an area of 5644 km2, more than 90% of which is either permanently or seasonally inundated by water. The Shark River Slough is the largest freshwater flow system in the park (991 km2). It serves as an important area for water storage and recharge to the Biscayne aquifer, provides critical habitat for a diverse assemblage of marsh dwelling fauna and flora, and acts as a major source of freshwater input into the estuarine areas of Everglades National Park. The Shark River Slough, as it exists today, is the southernmost remnant of a much larger freshwater drainage system, which one flowed unimpeded from the Kissimmee River drainage towards the southwest, across the southern third of Florida and into the Gulf of Mexico. Extensive man-made alterations to the natural flow pattern for the purposes of flood control, land reclamation and water storage have greatly altered the hydrological regime north of Everglades National Park. The once unregulated slow moving sheetflow regime is now a complex system of levees, canals, water storage, impoundments and water control structures (Figure 1) which influence both the quantity and quality of water entering the Shark River Slough.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Flora, Mark; Rosendahl, Peter
- Date of Issue
- 1982-03
- Publisher
- South Florida Natural Resources Center
- Units
- EVER
- Keywords
- Nutrient, SFNRCTRS, shark, slough, Water