Geomorphic, hydraulic, and biogeochemical controls on nitrate retention in tidal freshwater marshes

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dc.contributor.advisorPrestegaard, Karenen_US
dc.contributor.authorSeldomridge, Emilyen_US
dc.contributor.departmentGeologyen_US
dc.contributor.publisherDigital Repository at the University of Marylanden_US
dc.contributor.publisherUniversity of Maryland (College Park, Md.)en_US
dc.date.accessioned2012-07-07T05:44:04Z
dc.date.available2012-07-07T05:44:04Z
dc.date.issued2012en_US
dc.description.abstractTidal freshwater wetlands are ideal sites for nitrate retention because of their position within the landscape (near the head of tide); they receive water, discharge, nutrients (N and P), and sediment loads directly from contributing watersheds. Nitrate retention (the difference between nitrate inputs and outputs in an ecosystem), however, is difficult to predict due to the complex interactions between flow processes and the multiple retention processes. The goal of the study was to evaluate both external and internal controls on nitrate retention, and to determine whether scaling procedures could be identified to estimate nitrate retention for an entire ecosystem. The external controls included temperature, dissolved oxygen concentrations, and incoming nitrate concentrations. Internal controls are the interactions among geomorphic, hydrologic, and biological systems <italic>within individual marshes</italic> that influence nitrate retention. This study was conducted in the upper Patuxent River Estuary where the ecosystem is composed of hundreds of individual marshes that are connected to the estuary through tidal inlets; marsh inlet geomorphology governs water and nitrate fluxes into the marshes. This study therefore took a mass balance approach to determine geomorphic, hydrologic, and biological influences on nitrate retention. Nitrate retention was measured over a 4-year period in three tidal freshwater wetlands, selected to represent a range of marsh sizes. An examination of the mass balance data suggest that nitrate retention is an outcome of complex interactions among inlet geomorphic characteristics, hydrologic flux, and biogeochemical processes. In cases where nitrate concentrations and temperatures are greater than critical (limiting) values, an emergent behavior in which nitrate retention is a simple function of water volume is observed. The wetland ecosystem is composed of numerous, small wetlands that process a small percentage of total nitrate; approximately 50% of retention is processed by the large marshes that comprise only 4% of the total population, but over 80% of the marsh area; therefore, any processes that affect tidal water volumes in large marshes is likely to affect net nitrate retention. The growth of vegetation in these large channels reduced ecosystem nitrate retention.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/12632
dc.subject.pqcontrolledEnvironmental geologyen_US
dc.subject.pqcontrolledBiogeochemistryen_US
dc.subject.pqcontrolledGeomorphologyen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledbiogeochemistryen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolleddenitrificationen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledhydraulic geometryen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledhydrologyen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrollednitrate retentionen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledPatuxent Riveren_US
dc.titleGeomorphic, hydraulic, and biogeochemical controls on nitrate retention in tidal freshwater marshesen_US
dc.typeDissertationen_US

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