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Determination of sediment sources in a mixed watershed within the Appalachian-St. Lawrence Lowland Regions of southern Quebec using sediment fingerprinting

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Abstract

This paper identifies the main sediment sources to the Beaudet Reservoir in Quebec (Canada) using sediment fingerprinting. The reservoir, which is built on the Bulstrode River and provides drinking water to Victoriaville, has decreased in capacity by 35% in the past 35 years. This study provides new data on fingerprinting in large and complex watersheds, a first in the province of Quebec. Nine sampling sites on the Bulstrode River and its three main tributaries were selected and five sampling campaigns were conducted. Samples from river bank profiles and adjacent fields, along with suspended sediments, were collected. All samples were sieved to 2 mm and analyzed for 137Caesium, 15 geochemical elements and sieved to 63 μm for color analysis. Source classification, based on an ANOVA test to verify the independence hypothesis and iterative linear discriminant analysis to optimize the ratio of inter-group/within-group variability, resulted in four sample classes: agricultural soils, forested soils, stream bank bottom and stream bank top. A Kruskal-Wallis H test then identified 21 out of the 32 tracers with p value < 0.05. The linear discriminant analysis led to a set of 14 tracers, namely 137Cs and 13 color coefficients with a discriminating result of 94%. That combination of 137Cs and color coefficients proved to be a cost-effective fingerprint. Based on MixSIAR modeling results, this sediment fingerprinting study has demonstrated that the main sediment sources varied within the watershed but, generally, forested soil particles dominated (33 to 49%), then agricultural soils (43 to 50%) reflecting the land use changes, followed by stream bank bottoms (82%) at the Beaudet Reservoir.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to Nadia Goussard, Patrick Gagnon, Jonathan Robidoux, Charles Beauparlant, Marie-Pierre Kavutse, Louis Renaud, Eva Slavicek, Monica Boudreault, Melody Caron, Brendan Brooks, Meagan Betts and Alex Koiter for their technical assistance.

Funding

The first author was supported by the Fonds québécois de la recherche sur la nature et les technologies. This work was also funded under David Lobb’s Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council project. Analysis costs were all paid by the University of Manitoba (137Cs and color) and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Quebec City (geochemistry).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Département de génie civil et des eaux, Université Laval, 1065, av. de la Médecine, Québec, QC,, G1V 0A6, Canada

    Christina Lachance & Geneviève Pelletier

  2. Department of Soil Science and Watershed Systems Research Program, University of Manitoba, 13 Freedman Crescent, Winnipeg, MN, R3T 2N2, Canada

    David A. Lobb

  3. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, 2560, blvd Hochelaga, Québec, QC,, G1V 2J3, Canada

    Georges Thériault & François Chrétien

Authors
  1. Christina Lachance
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  2. David A. Lobb
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  3. Geneviève Pelletier
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  4. Georges Thériault
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  5. François Chrétien
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Correspondence to Christina Lachance.

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Lachance, C., Lobb, D.A., Pelletier, G. et al. Determination of sediment sources in a mixed watershed within the Appalachian-St. Lawrence Lowland Regions of southern Quebec using sediment fingerprinting. Environ Monit Assess 192, 603 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-020-08568-9

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