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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Oxford, Mississippi » National Sedimentation Laboratory » Watershed Physical Processes Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #407247
Research Project: Science and Technologies for Improving Soil and Water Resources in Agricultural Watersheds

Location: Watershed Physical Processes Research

Title: Developing an inventory of waterbodies and drainage systems to study groundwater-surface water interactions within the Mississippi Alluvial Plain of North America

Author
item Langendoen, Eddy
item Heintzman, Lucas
item Witthaus, Lindsey
item GREENWOOD, KELLI - University Of Texas At Arlington
item LI, DANIEL - University Of Texas At Arlington
item FANG, NICK - University Of Texas At Arlington
item Moore, Matthew

Submitted to: American Geophysical Union
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/15/2023
Publication Date: 12/11/2023
Citation: Langendoen, E.J., Heintzman, L.J., Witthaus, L.M., Greenwood, K., Li, D., Fang, N., Moore, M.T. 2023. Developing an inventory of waterbodies and drainage systems to study groundwater-surface water interactions within the Mississippi Alluvial Plain of North America. American Geophysical Union. In 2023 AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts, San Francisco, CA, December 11-15, 2023.

Interpretive Summary: ABSTRACT ONLY.

Technical Abstract: Groundwater levels in the Mississippi Alluvial Plain (MAP) of North America are steadily declining due to increased demand for agricultural irrigation, threatening the sustainable use of regional aquifers. Historically, annual precipitation of >120 cm and flooding were presumed to provide significant annual surface water infiltration to these aquifers. However, the contemporary hydrology of the MAP has been altered to virtually eliminate flooding over much of the region. As such, surface water is redistributed amongst streams, oxbow lakes, wetlands, and numerous ponds. Moreover, many of these aquatic systems are now isolated hydrologically- except during storm flows through a network of ditches. Thus, the processes controlling contemporary total groundwater recharge remain poorly understood. Unfortunately, much of the hydrologic system of the MAP is either missing or inaccurately characterized physically in national databases such as the National Hydrography Dataset High Resolution. Therefore, substantial regional knowledge gaps exist regarding the quantity of surface water stored, ditch conveyance dynamics, and subsequent connections to groundwater. Consequently, we are using a machine-learning approach to derive an inventory of waterbodies and ditch systems in the MAP from high-resolution DEMs (= 1 m cell size) using a suite of geographic indices. The suitability of each index for terrain with negligible relief was evaluated. Machine Learning model performance was tested for two 12-digit hydrologic unit code subwatersheds: Roundaway Bayou and Beaver Bayou/Mound Bayou. To assess contributions of small ponds and ditches to basin-scale water management, attributes such as waterbody surface area and volume were aggregated and compared to those of the associated streams, oxbow lakes, and wetlands. Expected results of this inventory include applications to irrigation and erosion management at landscape scales.