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Changes in Pond Water Levels and Surface Extent Due to Climate Variability Alter Solute Sources to Closed-Basin Prairie-Pothole Wetland Ponds, 1979 to 2012

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Abstract

Wetter conditions beginning in 1993 resulted in marked changes in water levels and surface extent of prairie-pothole region wetland ponds, including closed-basin wetlands in the Cottonwood Lake area of North Dakota, U.S.A. Pond water levels after 1993 were consistently 0.5 to 2 m higher than during 1979–1993 (≤ 1 m deep) in wetlands lacking surface or substantial groundwater outlets, and ponds of some wetlands merged. Pond surface areas after 1993 were as much as twice pre-1993 areas. Weathered glacial till in the inundated uplands provided a source of solutes from the subsurface beyond the extent of the weathered wetland periphery and wetland sediments that existed before 1993. Increased pond peripheries also provided for more movement of solutes from shallow groundwater into wetland ponds during the wetter period. Long periods of higher water levels during pronounced wetter conditions can be associated with increased specific conductance for some wetland ponds. In wetlands receiving no groundwater input, specific conductance values of ponded waters were indistinguishable between wetter and preceding conditions. Thus, changes in specific conductance in wetland ponds during wetter climate conditions cannot be assumed to be uniform, a result of changing watershed solute sources.

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Acknowledgments

The analysis presented herein would not have been possible without the work of colleagues George Swanson and Vyto Adomaitis who began ecological studies of the Cottonwood Lake area wetlands site in 1967 and the detailed hydrological studies started by Tom Winter in 1978. Their foundational studies were essential to enable us to examine processes over such a long term. Data from Cottonwood Lake area wetlands (for example, Mushet and Solensky 2016; Mushet et al. 2016) are available through the Missouri Coteau Wetland Ecosystem Observatory (https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/item/52f0ffd9e4b0f941aa181fc6) and maintained through funding received from the U.S. Geological Survey’s Climate and Land Use Change—Research and Development Program. We thank Kevin Vining, Sandy Cooper, and two anonymous reviewers for constructive comments and suggestions. Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. U. S. Geological Survey, 411 National Center, 12201 Sunrise Valley Drive, Reston, VA, 20192, USA

    James W. LaBaugh

  2. U. S. Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center, 8711 37Th Street SE, Jamestown, ND, 58401, USA

    David M. Mushet & Ned H. Euliss Jr.

  3. U.S. Geological Survey, W 6th Ave Kipling St MS 413, Lakewood, CO, 80225, USA

    Donald O. Rosenberry

  4. U.S. Geological Survey, W 6th Ave Kipling St MS 964, Lakewood, CO, 80225, USA

    Martin B. Goldhaber & Christopher T. Mills

  5. U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 3425 Miriam Avenue, Bismarck, ND, 58501, USA

    Richard D. Nelson

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  1. James W. LaBaugh
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Correspondence to James W. LaBaugh.

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LaBaugh, J.W., Mushet, D.M., Rosenberry, D.O. et al. Changes in Pond Water Levels and Surface Extent Due to Climate Variability Alter Solute Sources to Closed-Basin Prairie-Pothole Wetland Ponds, 1979 to 2012. Wetlands 36 (Suppl 2), 343–355 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-016-0808-x

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