Little Topashaw Creek - Bed Organic Carbon : USDA ARS

ARS Home » Southeast Area » Oxford, Mississippi » National Sedimentation Laboratory » Water Quality and Ecology Research » Docs » Little Topashaw Creek - Bed Organic Carbon

Archived Page

This page has been archived and is being provided for reference purposes only. The page is no longer being updated, and therefore, links on the page may be invalid.

Little Topashaw Creek - Bed Organic Carbon

POM in bed sediments along Little Topashaw Creek was sampled before and after rehabilitation. Samples of the top 10 cm of bed sediments, including organic matter lying on the bed surface, were taken from the baseflow channel centerline and left and right margins along 39 channel transects during base flow. Samples were collected in summer of 2000 and three years later.
Mean carbon concentrations for the rehabilitated stream reach were essentially unchanged three years after installation of LWD structures and willow planting.
The addition of debris structures was not followed by an increase in bed C concentrations, despite the fact that these structures reduced mean flow velocities during 2001.Our results likely reflect the fact that nearly 70% of the structures had been severely damaged or destroyed by 2003.
Mean carbon concentrations actually declined slightly (from 0.12%to 0.11%) along the baseflow channel centerline, but increased slightly along the baseflow channel margins (from 0.13% to 0.15%).At the same time, bed sediment grain size became finer along the channel margins but was unchanged at the centerline.This pattern was similar to that found along two less-degraded streams in the region.

location of cross sections along Little Topashaw Creek

collection of bed samples for carbon analysis

Back

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Water Quality and Ecology Research: Oxford, MS