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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Linking Migration To Community Resilience In The Receiving Basin Of A Large-Scale Water Transfer Project, Anna Erwin, Zhao Ma, Ruxandra Popovici, Emma Patricia Salas O’Brien, Laura Zanotti, Chelsea A. Silva, Eliseo Zeballos Zeballos, Jonathan Bauchet, Nelly Ramírez Calderón, Glenn Roberto Arce Larreah Dec 2021

Linking Migration To Community Resilience In The Receiving Basin Of A Large-Scale Water Transfer Project, Anna Erwin, Zhao Ma, Ruxandra Popovici, Emma Patricia Salas O’Brien, Laura Zanotti, Chelsea A. Silva, Eliseo Zeballos Zeballos, Jonathan Bauchet, Nelly Ramírez Calderón, Glenn Roberto Arce Larreah

School of Earth, Environmental, and Marine Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Large-scale water transfer projects (LWTPs) transfer water to urban and agricultural areas. The Majes-Siguas canal, established in 1983, is an LWTP that created a thriving agricultural area through irrigating the Majes district in the Atacama Desert of Peru. Like other LWTP receiving basins, the project has attracted an influx of migrants who work on the farms. At the same time, the Majes LWTP is the district’s only source of water and has an aging infrastructure which presents significant risks. While many studies critically analyze the consequences of LWTPs in water supply basins, few evaluate the resilience of communities living in …


Cover Crop Effects On Infiltration, Aggregate Stability, And Water Retention On Loessial And Alluvial Soils Of The Lower Mississippi River Valley, Shelby G. Lebeau Dec 2021

Cover Crop Effects On Infiltration, Aggregate Stability, And Water Retention On Loessial And Alluvial Soils Of The Lower Mississippi River Valley, Shelby G. Lebeau

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cover crops are a widely considered practice to improve soil health in the form of erosion control, organic matter additions, and improving water-holding capacity. Despite the well-documented benefits, little is known about the effect of cover crops on soils in the Lower Mississippi River Valley (LMRV), an area historically dominated by intensive cultivated agriculture, with soils prone to erosion, and unsustainable aquifer withdrawals for irrigation. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of cover crops [with cover crops (CC) and without cover crops (NCC)] on near-surface soil physical/chemical- and infiltration-related properties, aggregate stability, and water retention. …


Recharge Assessment In The Context Of Expanding Agricultural Activity: Urucuia Aquifer System, Western State Of Bahia, Brazil, Glauco Z.S. Eger, Gerson C. Silva Junior, Eduardo A.G. Marques, Bernardo R.C. Leão, Diana G.T.B. Da Rocha, Troy E. Gilmore, Luís G.H. Do Amaral, Juremá A.O. Silva, Christopher Neale Oct 2021

Recharge Assessment In The Context Of Expanding Agricultural Activity: Urucuia Aquifer System, Western State Of Bahia, Brazil, Glauco Z.S. Eger, Gerson C. Silva Junior, Eduardo A.G. Marques, Bernardo R.C. Leão, Diana G.T.B. Da Rocha, Troy E. Gilmore, Luís G.H. Do Amaral, Juremá A.O. Silva, Christopher Neale

Conservation and Survey Division

Groundwater recharge rate estimation is crucial to sustainable development of aquifers in intensely pumped regions, such as the Urucuia Aquifer System (UAS). A sedimentary aquifer in Western Bahia, Brazil, that underlies one of the major agricultural areas of the country where there has been major growth of irrigated areas. This study seeks to evaluate the recharge component of the water budget in the UAS area, based on three complementary techniques. The double-ring infiltrometer test was used to evaluate surface infiltration capacity, an important control on recharge. Water level data from wells (2011–2019 period, 19 wells) in the Brazilian Geological Survey’s …


Investigating Epikarst Recharge Dynamics Under Agricultural Landuse Using Hydrometeorological And Isotopic Tracers, Austin Shane Deering Oct 2021

Investigating Epikarst Recharge Dynamics Under Agricultural Landuse Using Hydrometeorological And Isotopic Tracers, Austin Shane Deering

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Epikarst systems have complex recharge – discharge processes in telogenetic karst systems, including highly variable storage, flowpaths, and mixing dynamics. This research aimed to characterize the epikarst zone using hydrogen and oxygen isotopic tracers of these processes within south-central Kentucky’s Crumps Cave system located in the Pennyroyal Sinkhole Plain. Data and statistical analyses were applied to highresolution rainfall (RF), lysimeter (10 cm, 20 cm, 30 cm depths), and an epikarst Waterfall 1 (WF1) isotope data collected on a weekly basis between 2011-2018. These data were coupled with WF1 discharge measurements and weather station data collected at Crumps Cave Preserve during …


Assessing Impacts Of Winter-Hay Feeding On Soil And Forage Nutrient Dynamics In A Rotationally-Grazed Pasture System In Arkansas, Lawrence Gordon Berry Iv Jul 2021

Assessing Impacts Of Winter-Hay Feeding On Soil And Forage Nutrient Dynamics In A Rotationally-Grazed Pasture System In Arkansas, Lawrence Gordon Berry Iv

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

More than 38 % of United States’ rural land area was used for grazing (i.e., pastureland or rangeland) ruminant animals in 2017, constituting the largest private land use group. The expansive nature of these lands means that grazing and pasture management decisions have potential to impact water quality as well as profit margins. As a result, beef producers are under increased pressure from economic and environmental standpoints to limit application of nutrients beyond those required to grow the forage needed for animal consumption. At the same time, a large amount of nutrients is recycled back to pasture systems directly from …


Long-Term Changes In Soil Surface Properties As Affected By Management Practices In A Wheat-Soybean, Double-Crop System, Machaela Morrison May 2021

Long-Term Changes In Soil Surface Properties As Affected By Management Practices In A Wheat-Soybean, Double-Crop System, Machaela Morrison

Crop, Soil and Environmental Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

Long-term agricultural sustainability and productivity are controlled by the integrative effects of different management practices on the soil. Many Arkansas producers use the double-crop system to grow soybeans [Glycine max (L.) Merr] and wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). Studying combinations of different, non-traditional, alternative agricultural techniques may help producers better understand the long-term implications of various management practice options on sustainability and productivity. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of agricultural management practices, including residue level, tillage, irrigation, and burning, and soil depth on the change in various soil properties from 2010 to 2020 in …


Sediment Nutrient Dynamics In Fondriest Agricultural Settling Pond, Marie Grace Bezold Jan 2021

Sediment Nutrient Dynamics In Fondriest Agricultural Settling Pond, Marie Grace Bezold

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Excess loading of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) is a serious global problem and has numerous negative impacts on water quality of aquatic ecosystems including eutrophication, harmful algal blooms, and hypoxia. Anthropogenic activities (such as the Haber-Bosch process, burning of fossil fuels, sewage treatment, and manure reuse) have led to excess N loading to aquatic systems. Sediment N dynamics were examined from Oct 2019 – Oct 2020 in an agricultural settling pond connected to a constructed wetland adjacent to an agricultural field. Intact sediment cores were amended with 15N for continuous-flow incubations to measure denitrification and N fixation rates, as …