USGS

 

U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

Scientific Investigation Report 2004-5051


Hydrologic and Geochemical Controls on Pesticide and Nutrient Transport to Two Streams on the Delmarva Peninsula

By Scott W. Ator, Judith M. Denver, and Michael J. Brayton

 

This report is available as a pdf.

 

ABSTRACT

Pesticides and nutrients move from application areas through ground water and surface runoff to streams on the Delmarva Peninsula. The relative importance of different transport media to the movement of these compounds in different watersheds is related to locally variable hydrologic and geochemical conditions among areas of regionally similar land use, geology, and soils. Consideration of such local variability is important to land-management efforts or future environmental investigations on the Peninsula.

Chemical analyses of samples collected over a multiyear period from two streams on the Delmarva Peninsula were analyzed along with similar available analyses of ground water to document the occurrence of pesticides and nutrients, and illustrate important processes controlling their movement through watersheds to streams. The upper Pocomoke River and Chesterville Branch drain predominantly agricultural watersheds typical of the Delmarva Peninsula. Chesterville Branch drains a watershed of moderate relief, good drainage, and a permeable surficial aquifer that ranges in thickness from about 15 to 25 meters. The upper Pocomoke River Watershed, however, is extremely flat with poorly drained soils and abundant artificial drainage. Influences on the chemistry of water in each stream were determined from seasonal patterns in the concentrations of selected constituents from 1996 through 2001, and relations with streamflow.

Nutrients and pesticides are detectable throughout the year in the upper Pocomoke River and Chesterville Branch. Water in both streams is typically dilute, slightly acidic, and well oxygenated, and nitrate and phosphorus concentrations generally exceed estimated natural levels. Pesticide concentrations are generally low, although concentrations of selected metabolites commonly exceed 1 microgram per liter, particularly in Chesterville Branch. Nitrate and metabolites of pesticide compounds are apparently transported to Chesterville Branch preferentially through ground water in the surficial aquifer, although selected pesticide parent compounds and less soluble nutrients move primarily in surface runoff. Conversely, the relative proportion of discharge from surficial and partially confined aquifers is the most important factor controlling the chemistry of water in the upper Pocomoke River. Surface runoff in the larger and predominantly flat upper Pocomoke River Watershed is apparently limited to particularly significant precipitation events. Transport of pesticides in surface runoff becomes important in both watersheds during such events. Instantaneous loads of pesticides in streams typically stabilize or continue to increase with increasing flow even after runoff begins, although in-stream concentrations may decrease due to dilution.

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Foreword

Abstract

Introduction

Purpose and scope

Acknowledgments

The Delmarva Peninsula

The upper Pocomoke River

Chesterville Branch

Data collection and analysis

Data collection

Data analysis

Water chemistry in the upper Pocomoke River and Chesterville Branch Watersheds

Ground water in the upper Pocomoke River Watershed

Ground water in the Chesterville Branch Watershed

Stream chemistry in the upper Pocomoke River and Chesterville Branch

Hydrologic and geochemical controls on the transport of pesticides and nutrients

The upper Pocomoke River

Chesterville Branch

Summary and conclusions

References cited


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For more information about USGS activities in Maryland, Delaware and the District of Columbia contact:

 

Director
U.S. Geological Survey
Maryland, Delaware, D.C. Water Science Center
8987 Yellow Brick Road
Baltimore, MD 21237
Telephone: (410) 238-4200
Fax: (410) 238-4210

 

or access the USGS Water Resources of Maryland, Delaware, and District of Columbia home page at:  http://md.water.usgs.gov/.




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