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Retention of Riverine Sediment and Nutrient Loads by Coastal Plain Floodplains

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Abstract

Despite the frequent citation of wetlands as effective regulators of water quality, few quantitative estimates exist for their cumulative retention of the annual river loads of nutrients or sediments. Here we report measurements of sediment accretion and associated carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus accumulation as sedimentation over feldspar marker horizons placed on floodplains of the non-tidal, freshwater Coastal Plain reaches of seven rivers in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, USA. We then scale these accumulation rates to the entire extent of non-tidal floodplain in the Coastal Plain of each river, defined as riparian area extending from the Fall Line to the upper limit of tidal influence, and compare them to annual river loads. Floodplains accumulated a very large amount of material compared to their annual river loads of sediment (median among rivers = 119%), nitrogen (24%), and phosphorus (59%). Systems with larger floodplain areas and longer floodplain inundation retained greater proportions of riverine loads of nitrogen and phosphorus, but systems with larger riverine loads retained a smaller proportion of that load on floodplains. Although the source and long-term fate of deposited sediment and associated nutrients are uncertain, these fluxes represent the interception of large amounts of material that otherwise could have been exported downstream. Coastal Plain floodplain ecosystems are important regulators of sediment, carbon, and nutrient transport in watersheds of the Chesapeake Bay.

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Acknowledgments

This study was funded by the Chesapeake Bay Priority Ecosystem Science Program, the National Research Program, and the Hydrologic Networks and Analysis Program of the USGS. The authors would like to thank Dan Kroes, Tommy Donelson, Josh Ewell, and Hana Sanei for assistance in the field; Kathy Conko, Mike Doughten, and Jimmy Bae for help in the laboratory; Ed Schenk for estimating floodplain areas and inundation; Allen Gellis for providing sediment load data; Rich Alexander for providing SPARROW predictions; Lauren McPhillips for generating the map; and Rich Alexander, Charlie Demas, Dorothy Tepper, Des Walling, and two anonymous reviewers for comments on drafts of the manuscript. Any use of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement of the US Government.

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  1. U.S. Geological Survey, 430 National Center, Reston, Virginia, 20192, USA

    Gregory B. Noe & Cliff R. Hupp

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  1. Gregory B. Noe
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Correspondence to Gregory B. Noe.

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Authors Contributions

C.H. designed and implemented the sampling network. G.N. performed the chemical analyses of sediment, statistical analyses, and the scaling and retention analyses. G.N. wrote the article and both authors discussed the results and edited the manuscript.

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Noe, G.B., Hupp, C.R. Retention of Riverine Sediment and Nutrient Loads by Coastal Plain Floodplains. Ecosystems 12, 728–746 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-009-9253-5

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