Great Smoky Mountains National Park vital signs water quality monitoring program: Annual report 2015
Schwartz JS, Gonzalez A, Veeneman A, Kulp MA. 2016. Great Smoky Mountains National Park vital signs water quality monitoring program: Annual report 2015. Natural Resource Data Series. NPS/GRSM/NRDS—2016/1035. National Park Service. Fort Collins, Colorado
The Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GRSM) Annual Water Quality (WQ) Monitoring Program consists of: 1) detailed hydrologic and WQ monitoring at Noland Divide Watershed (NDW), a high-elevation forested site, and 2) park-wide stream survey monitoring. This report summarizes all data collected for the GRSM monitoring program in 2015. Monitoring data began in 1991 and prior year data summaries can be found in GRSM Annual Reports and journal publications. NDW precipitation volumes collected during 2015 at the throughfall (TF) and open-site (OS) collection sites were 241 cm and 141 cm, respectively. Mean pH of samples collected at TF and OS sites was 5.18 ± 0.5 and 5.24 ± 0.1, respectively. Total sulfate deposition at TF for 2015 was 394 equivalents per hectare (eq ha-1), or 18.9 kilograms per hectare (kg-SO4 ha-1). Total inorganic nitrogen (T.I.N.; sum of ammonium & nitrate) deposition at TF was 696 eq ha-1, or 32.0 kg-TIN ha-1. Soil water pH at the NDW monitoring station was 4.53 ± 0.16, 4.64 ± 0.02, and 4.63 ± 0.14, in the upper, middle and lower soil horizons, respectively. The NE and SW streamlets during 2015 had an annual average pH of 5.77 ± 0.02 and 5.97 ± 0.02, respectively. These streamlets had a mean acid neutralizing capacity (ANC) of 7.3 ± 0.4 and 14.2 ± 0.8 microequivalents per liter (μeq/L), respectively. Of the park-wide stream survey sites monitored in 2015, 35 of the 265 samples had a pH below 6.0 and an ANC below 20 μeq/L. These samples were collected from sites historically observed to have low pH and ANC stream water, including Double Springs Gap shelter, Cosby-Rock Creek watershed, and Porter-Cannon Creek watershed. Total dissolved aluminum (Al) in only six samples (collected from only three sites) in 2015 was ≥ 0.08 mg/L, a toxicological threshold concentration very near the analytical reporting limit of 0.05 mg/L. These sites are also associated with the lowest measured stream water pH and ANC, consistent with dissolution of aluminum from soils and bedrock minerals. The water pH at Vital Signs stream monitoring sites in 2015 was 6.30 (overall mean; N = 265) and ranged between 5.24 and 7.53. A combination of factors in individual GRSM watersheds (i.e., bedrock geology, soil, and vegetation) appears to define the how biogeochemical processes influence the fate and transport of acid deposition pollutants migrating through the soils and entering streams.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Schwartz, John; Gonzalez, Adrian; Veeneman, Andrew; Kulp, Matt
- Date of Issue
- 2016-09
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- GRSM , NRSS
- Keywords
- acid deposition, acid rain, discharge, metals, nitrate, soils, sonde, stream, sulfate, water quality
- Subjects
- Ecological Framework: Air and Climate | Air Quality | Wet and Dry Deposition , Ecological Framework: Geology and Soils | Soil Quality | Soil Function and Dynamics , Ecological Framework: Water | Hydrology | Surface Water Dynamics , Ecological Framework: Water | Water Quality | Water Chemistry , Ecological Framework: Water | Water Quality | Nutrient Dynamics