Kelly Hayden

Using GIS to Evaluate Erosion as a Potential Pathway for Nutrient Pollution

in Little Kickapoo Creek, Illinois

BackgroundAgriculture in Midwest

is overloading streams with nutrients from fertilizers

Causes: surface runoff, tile drainage, groundwater flow, erosion

It’s creating a dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico

Currently it’s the size of New Jersey

serc.carleton.edu

Erosion of farmland contributes nutrients to streams Fertilizers applied to cropland have high levels

of nitrate and phosphateNitrate in groundwater and runoffPhosphate binds to soil

Agricultural Erosion

www.glc.org

Urban erosionNot many nutrientsAdds sediment to streams

Increased runoff causes bank failureChannel cementationSuspended sediment

Urban Erosion

laep.ced.berkeley.edu/blakegarden

Many methods require extensive field dataStream Power Index (SPI)

Uses GISLittle data required

Fast Inexpensive

Calculates overland flowIdentifies areas for erosion controlEvaluates management plans

Calculating watershed erosion risk

Cover et al, 2008 – used SPI as a guide to adjust an erosion model, evaluate erosion’s effect on fish

Pike et al, 2009 – assess erosion to establish prevention methods

Faivre et al, 2011 – stream morphology, formation of gullies during storm events

Galzki, 2009 – locate areas in agricultural watershed with high erosion, determine risk for nutrient loading

Previous studies

• Little Kickapoo

Creek (LKC)

• Located in central Illinois

• Location of thesis research

Study location

Is erosion a possible pathway for nutrient loading in LKC?What is the extent of LKC and the LKC

watershed?What type of land cover is present in the

watershed? And how might the land cover contribute to nutrient loading of LKC?

Where within the LKC watershed is there the highest potential for erosion?

The question

DataDEMLand cover

Calculating SPIFlow direction and flow accumulation rastersDelineate watershedSlopeRaster calculator

SPI = flow accumulation * slopeLN[RawSPIraster]

CategorizeHigh numbers means high risk for erosion

Methods

LKC watershed

• Starts in

Bloomington

• Discharges to

Kickapoo Creek in

Randolph

• 76 km2

Results

Land cover

General land coverPercent of total area

open 0.3%urban 27.1%hay/pasture 6.9%water 0.3%forest 4.9%row crop 60.5%

Red is high slope

Green is low slope

Slope is highest along

the stream

Can see the Bloomington

End Moraine

Slope

High values are red

Low values are green

High values mean high

risk for erosion

SPI

Removed low values to

make it easier to see

Areas of high erosion

located along LKC

Bloomington End Moraine

increases erosion potential

SPI

Urban erosion risk may not be accurately calculated by SPINeed to observe condition of LKC in the urban

areaErosion in LKC watershed occurs along

streamMost of the stream flows through agricultural

landsHigh potential for nutrient contamination by

erosion

Discussion and conclusion

Alexander, R. B., R. A. Smith, G. E. Schwarz, E. W. Boyer, J. V. Nolan, and J. W. Brakebill, 2008, Differences in Phosphorus and Nitrogen Delivery to the Gulf of Mexico from the Mississippi River Basin: Environ. Sci. Technol., v. 42, p. 822-830.Arango, C. P., J. L. Tank, J. L. Schaller, T. V. Royer, M. J. Bernot, and M. B. David, 2007, Benthic organic carbon influences denitrification in streams with high nitrate concentration: Freshwater Biology, v. 52, p. 1210-1222.Baker, L. A., 2003, Introduction to nonpoint source pollution in the United States and prospects for wetland use: Ecological Engineering, v. 1, p. 1-26.Cover, M.R., May, C.L., Dietrich, W.E., and Resh, V.H., 2008, Quantitative linkages among sediment supply, streambed fine sediment, and benthic macroinvertebrates in northern California streams: Journal of the North American Benthological Society, v. 27, i. 1, p. 135-149, doi: 10.1899/07–032.1Dogwiler, T., Docker, D., and Omoth, D., 2010, Rush-pine creek watershed digital terrain analysis overview and procedure guidelines: WRC report 2010-02, Southeastern Minnesota Water Resource Center, Winona State University, Winona, MN, 22 p.Faivre, S., Pahernik, M., and Maradin, M., 2011, The gully of protovosca on the Island of Krk: The effects of a short-term rainfall event: Geologia Croatica, v. 64, i. 1, p. 67-80, doi: 104154/gc.2011.07Galzki, J. C., 2009, Identifying critical portions of the landscape for water quality protection using GIS terrain analysis, University of Minnesota.Graf, W. L., 1975, The impact of suburbanization on fluvial geomorphology: Water Resources Research, 11,690-692Jordan, D.C. and Fonstad, M.A., 2005, Two Dimensional Mapping of River Bathymetry and Power Using Aerial Photography and GIS on the Brazos River, Texas: Geocarto International, v. 20, no. 3. Milevski, I., 2008, Estimation of soil erosion risk in the upper part of Bregalnica watershed, Republic of Macedonia, based on digital elevation model and satellite imagery: Proceedings from the 5th International conference on geographic information systems, Fatih University, Istanbul: 351-358.Mueller, D. K., and D. R. Helsel, 2009, Nutrients in the Nation's Waters--too much of a good thing?, USGS.Naidu, R., M. Megharaj, P. Dillon, R. Kookana, R. Correll, and W. Wenzel, 2006, Nonpoint Source Pollution, in R. Lal, ed., Encyclopedia of Soil Science, New York, Taylor & Francis Group, p. 1141-1144.Paul, M. J., and J. L. Meyer, 2001, Streams in the urban landscape. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 32:333–365.Pike, A.S., Mueller, T.G., Schorgendorfer, A., Shearer, S.A., and Karathanasis, A.D., 2009, Erosion Index Derived from terrain Attributes using Logistic Regression and neural Networks: Agronomy Journal, v. 101, i. 5.Pimentel, D., Harvey, C., Resosudarmo, P., Sinclair, K., Kurz, D., McNair, M., Christ, S. Shpritz, L., Fitton, L., Saffouri, R., and Blair, R., 1995, Environmental and Economic Costs of Soil Erosion and Conservation Benefits: Science, New Series, v. 267, no. 5201, p. 1117-1123. Schaller, J. L., T. V. Royer, M. B. David, and J. L. Tank, 2004, Denitrification associated with plants and sediments in an agricultural stream: North American Benthological Society, v. 23, p. 667-676.Turner, R.E. and Rabalais, N.N., 2003, Linking Landscape and Water Quality in the Mississippi River Basin for 200 Years: BioScience, v. 53, no. 6.Wilson, J. P. and Gallant, J.C., 2000, Digital Terrain Analysis, in Wilson, John P. and Gallant, John C., eds., Terrain Analysis: Principles and Applications: New York, John Wiley and Sons, Inc., p. 1-27.

 

References

Questions?