Hydrology Commons^™

Holdrege Nebraska State Soil, Nebraska Society Of Professional Soil Scientists

Conservation and Survey Division

No abstract provided.

Groundwater Levels In Nebraska 1984, Michael J. Ellis, Darryll T. Pederson

Conservation and Survey Division

No abstract provided.

Sulfur-Based Speleogenesis In The Cumberland Plateau, Usa, Lee J. Florea

Lee J Florea, PhD, P.G.

No abstract provided.

Upper Mississippi River Basin Modeling System Part 4: Climate Change Impacts On Flow And Water Quality, Eugene S. Takle, Chris Anderson, Manoj Jha, Philip W. Gassman

Eugene Takle

Output from an ensemble of seven global climate models for contemporary and future scenario climates was used to drive the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) to examine components of the hydrologic budget for the Upper Mississippi River Basin (UMRB). Results showed only modest increases in precipitation (+6%) and streamflow (+3%) but substantial reduction in snowfall (-37%) for the UMRB for the end of the 21^st century. The low-resolution of global models contribute to the biases in some but not all hydrologic components, most notably evapotranspiration, potential evapotranspiration, and baseflow. Ensemble results indicate an increase in baseflow (+12%) and ...

Improving The Accuracy For The Long-Term Hydrologic Impact Assessment (L-Thia) Model, Anqi Zhang, Lawrence Theller, Bernard A. Engel

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Urbanization increases runoff by changing land use types from less impervious to impervious covers. Improving the accuracy of a runoff assessment model, the Long-Term Hydrologic Impact Assessment (L-THIA) Model, can help us to better evaluate the potential uses of Low Impact Development (LID) practices aimed at reducing runoff, as well as to identify appropriate runoff and water quality mitigation methods. Several versions of the model have been built over time, and inconsistencies have been introduced between the models. To improve the accuracy and consistency of the model, the equations and parameters (primarily curve numbers in the case of this model ...

Understanding Cigarette Butt Littering Behavior On Public Beaches: A Case Study Of Jekyll Island, Georgia, Maranda R. Miller

Dissertations & Theses in Natural Resources

The world’s natural environment is degrading, and human behavior is a leading cause. Therefore, in order to address environmental problems it is important to understand the factors driving environmentally degrading behaviors and subsequently design behavioral interventions to alter undesirable behaviors.

One environmental issue of particular concern is toxins leeching from trash. Specifically, cigarette butts are of concern due to their prevalence in the environment. Cigarette butt discarding behavior is affected by personal attributes, but data regarding which personal attributes and how these affect discarding behavior is lacking. This thesis seeks to understand cigarette butt disposal on public beaches by ...

Soil Ecosystem Service Tradeoffs And Social-Ecological Resilience In The North Central Great Plains, Hannah E. Birge

Dissertations & Theses in Natural Resources

Humans seek to improve their wellbeing by altering ecological processes to maximize the output of specific ecosystem services, which often leave the system vulnerable to unintended and undesirable side effects. Ecosystem services emerge from complex interactions among ecological structures and processes occurring at multiple scales. The degree to which an ecosystem maintains a predictable range of structures and processes in the face of disturbance can be described as its resilience. The 1930s Dust Bowl of the North American Great Plains is an example of a system reconfiguration and loss of resilience that was ultimately driven by human optimization for a ...

Methylmecury Production In Two Northern Fen Peatlands, Mikhail J. Mack

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Northern peatlands provide conditions favourable for sulphate reducing bacteria, microorganisms responsible for producing methylmercury, an aquatic pollutant. An expected climate driven shift from moss- to sedge-dominance may alter mercury biogeochemistry. Observations from a moss-dominated poor fen and sedge-dominated intermediate fen were used to compare methylmercury to assess if contrasting plant communities, nutrients status and/or hydrologic regime control production. Chapter 2 compared porewater methylmercury and ancillary chemistry across two Northern Ontario fens. The lower water table, greater dissolved organic carbon, and lower pH in the poor fen resulted in 3.1 times greater methylmercury. Chapter 3, riparian zones in intermediate ...

Trophic Dynamics Of Flathead Catfish In The Missouri River Bordering Nebraska, Dylan R. Turner

Dissertations & Theses in Natural Resources

Understanding the trophic dynamics of large, riverine ecosystems is complex and requires knowledge from several inputs and outputs of the ecosystem. Most riverine ecosystems have been altered in some way whether through damming, channelizing, or diverting water. The Missouri River is not immune to these anthropogenic alterations. The river has dams throughout its middle portion and is channelized from Sioux City, Iowa to its confluence with the Mississippi River. Flathead Catfish pylodictus olivarius are one of the most ecologically harmful introduced species but little research has looked at the influence native populations of Flathead Catfish have on native prey populations ...

Tracking Potential Leakage Of Tailings-Lake Water Into Background Groundwater In Butte, Montana, Using Geochemical And Stable Isotope Tracers, Matthew Berzel

Graduate Theses & Non-Theses

This study was conducted to identify environmental tracers using water chemistry and stable isotopes in the Moulton Road area adjacent to the Yankee Doodle tailings impoundment north of Butte, Montana. The water level of the tailings lake is being raised as tailings slurry is pumped up to the impoundment, and numerous residential wells are located in close proximity. Although it has an alkaline pH (> 9), the water in the tailings lake is much higher in some chemical constituents than the wells and some of these constituents could be used as tracers to determine if lake water is migrating out of ...

Time Varying Parameter Models For Catchments With Land Use Change: The Importance Of Model Structure, Sahani Pathiraja, Daniela Anghileri, Paolo Burlando, Ashish Sharma, Lucy Marshall, Hamid Moradkhani

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Rapid population and economic growth in South-East-Asia has been accompanied by extensive land use change with consequent impacts on catchment hydrology. Modelling methodologies capable of handling changing land use conditions are therefore becoming ever more important, and are receiving increasing attention from hydrologists. A recently developed Data Assimilation based framework that allows model parameters to vary through time in response to signals of change in observations is considered for a medium sized catchment (2880 km²) in Northern Vietnam experiencing substantial but gradual land cover change. We investigate the efficacy of the method as well as the importance of the chosen ...

Hydrogeology Of Salt Karst Under Different Cap Soils And Climates (Persian Gulf And Zagros Mts., Iran), Jiri Bruthans, Jiri Kamas, Michal Filippi, Mohammad Zare, Alan L. Mayo

International Journal of Speleology

Southern Iran hosts abundant salt karst phenomena in numerous salt diapirs. This paper provides a new insight into the relationships among climate, cap soil and salt karst hydrogeology. Cave systems were documented and mapped. Soil, drip, stream, and flood waters from different environments were studied at several diapirs. It was revealed that the soil water chemistry depends on both the climate and cap soil thickness. In semi-arid climates, a thick cap soil forms (>3 m) and water has very low TDS values (0.15 g/l). In arid climates, a shallow cap soil forms, and soil water is gypsum-saturated with ...

Fish And Macroinvertebrate Response To Restored Off Channel Habitats On The Lower Platte River, Nebraska, Caleb Uerling

Dissertations & Theses in Natural Resources

Anthropogenic alterations to large rivers ranging from impoundments to levees have caused many rivers to no longer access the floodplain. The ecological integrity of floodplain rivers depends on the interaction between main-channel and floodplain habitats. Fish communities inhabiting floodplain habitats are often dictated by the type of habitat and conditions within that habitat. As restoration projects are undertaken it is imperative that managers understand how fish and macroinvertebrates respond to these events. We collected fish, macroinvertebrates, and habitat parameters on two restored floodplain habitats on the lower Platte River, Nebraska to answer questions about aquatic community response to floodplain restoration ...

Pce Groundwater Quality Assessment Of The University Of Northern Iowa Campus Area, Brian Gedlinske

Brian Gedlinske

Perchloroethylene (PCE), is a colorless, nonflammable, and relatively insoluble chlorinated solvent once widely used for dry cleaning and metal degreasing operations. Because of its past widespread use, poor solvent management practices, and environmental persistence, PCE is a common contaminant found in groundwater supplies. Potential health concerns include liver problems and increased cancer risk. This research paper presents the findings of an effort to better characterize the spatial, temporal, and transport attributes of a PCE groundwater plume that exists within the Devonian aquifer underlying the University of Northern Iowa campus and the surrounding area in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Findings reveal the ...

Ridge, Moldboard, Chisel, And No-Till Effects On Tile Water Quality Beneath Two Cropping Systems, Rameshwar S. Kanwar, Thomas S. Colvin, Douglas L. Karlen

Rameshwar S. Kanwar

Soil conservation tillage systems, including ridge-tillage, often reduce surface water contamination by pesticides because soil erosion and surface runoff are reduced. However, the effects on losses through subsurface drainage tile are somewhat uncertain. Our field study quantified the effects of four tillage practices in continuous corn (Zea mays L.) and corn-soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr] rotations on herbicide and nitrate N losses in tile drainage water. Fertilizer and pesticide application methods were uniform for ridge, moldboard, chisel, and no-till systems. Pesticide and nitrate N leaching losses were significantly affected by crop rotation. Tillage practice had little influence on nitrate N ...

The Soil Moisture Velocity Equation, Fred L. Ogden, Craig C. Douglas

Fred L. Ogden

Karst Development Of An Evaporitic System And Its Hydrogeological Implications Inferred From Gis-Based Analysis And Tracing Techniques, José M. Gil-Márquez, Juan A. Barberá, Matías Mudarra, Bartolomé Andreo, Jorge Prieto-Mera, Damián Sánchez, L. David Rizo-Decelis, Manuel Argamasilla, José M. Nieto, Beatríz De La Torre

International Journal of Speleology

The geomorphological characteristics and hydrogeological functioning of a geologically heterogeneous evaporitic karst plateau in Southern Spain were studied. Land surface information (LiDAR data) was used to analyze the shape and distribution of closed depressions. An artificial tracer test and monitoring of the natural responses of the main spring have allowed to infer the karstic development of the studied system. Three dyes were injected in selected swallow holes to trace the main groundwater flowpaths and to estimate the dimension of the conduit network. Discharge, electrical conductivity and temperature were monitored in the groundwater that drains the evaporitic plateau during an individual ...

Spatial Variabilities And Their Relationships Of The Trends Of Temperature, Water Vapor, And Precipitation In The North American Regional Reanalysis, Er Lu, Eugene S. Takle

Eugene Takle

[1] Spatial variabilities and their relationships of the trends of temperature, water vapor, and precipitation in the North American Regional Reanalysis are examined for each season from March 1979 to February 2007. Results show that warming dominates the domain in the troposphere from the surface to 300 hPa. Water vapor increases at lower levels but does not change much at mid-upper levels. Because of the large increase of water vapor holding capacity of the air at all levels due to the warming, relative humidity has a decreasing trend at all levels. The decrease is small at the surface and largest ...

Ridge, Moldboard, Chisel, And No-Till Effects On Tile Water Quality Beneath Two Cropping Systems, Rameshwar S. Kanwar, Thomas S. Colvin, Douglas L. Karlen

Douglas L Karlen

Soil conservation tillage systems, including ridge-tillage, often reduce surface water contamination by pesticides because soil erosion and surface runoff are reduced. However, the effects on losses through subsurface drainage tile are somewhat uncertain. Our field study quantified the effects of four tillage practices in continuous corn (Zea mays L.) and corn-soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr] rotations on herbicide and nitrate N losses in tile drainage water. Fertilizer and pesticide application methods were uniform for ridge, moldboard, chisel, and no-till systems. Pesticide and nitrate N leaching losses were significantly affected by crop rotation. Tillage practice had little influence on nitrate N ...

Hydrogeological Flow In Gypsum Karst Areas: Some Examples From Northern Italy And Main Circulation Models, Bartolomeo Vigna, Ilenia M. D'Angeli, Adriano Fiorucci, Jo De Waele

International Journal of Speleology

A Messinian succession containing gypsum beds crops out in northern Italy, mainly in Piedmont and along the northern flank of the Apennine mountains in Emilia-Romagna. These gypsum bodies have been extensively quarried at the surface, in outcrops, and through underground quarries. In Emilia-Romagna these gypsum outcrops can be rather extensive, several km long and up to 1 km wide, while in Piedmont they are mostly covered by silty-marly deposits of Upper Messinian and Pliocene age and show only sparse and small outcrops. The underground quarrying of these evaporite bodies in Piedmont has allowed studying in detail their hydrogeology, and the ...