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TECHNICAL REPORTS
Landscape and Watershed Processes

Chemical Transport from Paired Agricultural and Restored Prairie Watersheds

Iowa Dep. of Natural Resources, Geological Survey Bureau, 109 Trowbridge Hall, Iowa City, IA 52242-1319

* Corresponding author (kschilling{at}igsb.uiowa.edu)

Received for publication June 25, 2001. A five-year record of streamflow and chemical sampling data was evaluated to assess the effects of large-scale prairie restoration on transport of NO₃–N, Cl, and SO₄ loads from paired 5000-ha watersheds located in Jasper County, Iowa. Water quality conditions monitored during land use conversion from row crop agriculture to native prairie in the Walnut Creek watershed were compared with a highly agricultural control watershed (Squaw Creek). Combining hydrograph separation with a load estimation program, baseflow and stormflow loads of NO₃–N, Cl, and SO₄ were estimated at upstream and downstream sites on Walnut Creek and a downstream site on Squaw Creek. Chemical export in both watersheds was found to occur primarily with baseflow, with baseflow transport greatest during the late summer and fall. Lower Walnut Creek watershed, which contained the restored prairie areas, exported less NO₃–N and Cl compared with upper Walnut Creek and Squaw Creek watersheds. Average flow-weighted concentrations of NO₃–N exceeded 10 mg/L in upper Walnut Creek and Squaw Creek, but were estimated to be 6.6 mg/L in lower Walnut Creek. Study results demonstrate the utility of partitioning loads into baseflow and stormflow components to identify sources of pollutant loading to streams.

Abbreviations: SQW2, Squaw Creek watershed outlet • USGS, United States Geological Survey • WNT1, upper portion of the Walnut Creek watershed • WNT2, lower portion of the Walnut Creek watershed

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