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Groundwater Hydrology and Quality in Drained Wetlands of the Des Moines Lobe in Iowa

  • Iowa Farmed Wetlands
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Abstract

The prairie pothole region covers 700,000 km2 of North America and once contained millions of pothole wetlands but agricultural drainage was used to convert many these wetlands to agriculture. Termed “drained wetlands” in this study, groundwater hydrology and quality beneath these pothole depressions is poorly understood. In this study we characterized water table levels and nutrient concentrations at eight drained wetland sites in Iowa. During the 2011 to 2014 study period that ranged from drought to above-normal rainfall, water table levels exhibited a clear seasonal pattern, rapidly increasing in the spring with rainfall and decreasing in the late summer due to evapotranspiration (ET) and lateral flow to subsurface drainage tiles. The average water table depth ranged from approximately 90 to 130 cm near the typical tile depth in Iowa (120 cm). Results suggest that ponding observed at the farmed pothole depressions is rarely due to groundwater rise. High concentrations of NO3-N and PO4-P were present in shallow groundwater beneath the drained wetlands, averaging 16.7 and 0.4 mg l−1, respectively. Overall, both groundwater hydrology and quality of drained wetlands appear to be dominated by the agricultural land use.

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Acknowledgments

Funds for this project were provided, in part, from a Wetland Program Development Grant from the US Environmental Protection Agency (CD 97723601). We are indebted to landowners who allowed us access to their fields for this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Iowa Geological Survey, 340 Trowbridge Hall, Iowa City, IA, 52242-1319, USA

    Keith E. Schilling & Matthew T. Streeter

  2. Department of Biology, Grinnell College, Grinnell, IA, 50112, USA

    Peter J. Jacobson

  3. Iowa Soybean Association, 1255 Prairie Trail Parkway, Ankeny, IA, 50023, USA

    Christopher S. Jones

Authors
  1. Keith E. Schilling
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  2. Peter J. Jacobson
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  3. Matthew T. Streeter
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  4. Christopher S. Jones
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Correspondence to Keith E. Schilling.

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Schilling, K.E., Jacobson, P.J., Streeter, M.T. et al. Groundwater Hydrology and Quality in Drained Wetlands of the Des Moines Lobe in Iowa. Wetlands 38, 247–259 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-016-0825-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-016-0825-9

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