Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Comparison of sampling designs for sediment source fingerprinting in an agricultural watershed in Atlantic Canada

  • Sediment Fingerprinting in the Critical Zone
  • Published:
Journal of Soils and Sediments Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Sediment fingerprinting is increasingly being used to improve the understanding of sediment dynamics within the critical zone and provide information that can help guide management decisions at the watershed scale. The objectives of this study were to investigate both the implications of different sediment fingerprinting sampling designs and spatial scales on the characterization of sediment dynamics in a predominantly agricultural watershed in northwestern New Brunswick, Canada.

Materials and methods

Color and radionuclide fingerprints were used to discriminate between three potential sediment sources: agricultural topsoil, agricultural streambanks, and forested areas (topsoil and streambanks). Suspended sediment was collected seasonally, between 2008 and 2014, at five sites with drainage areas ranging from 3.0 to 13.4 km2. Using the same source and sediment data set, multiple-, nested-, and local-location fingerprinting sampling designs were employed to investigate the influence of scale of observation, geomorphic connectivity, land use, and the heterogeneity of source fingerprints on apportionment results.

Results and discussion

Sediment collected in the headwaters was primarily derived from forested areas while the sediment collected at the outlet of the watershed was primarily from agricultural topsoil. When comparing the multiple- and nested-location designs, it was found that accounting for the spatial variability in the fingerprint properties of each source had a small difference in the sediment apportionment results. Furthermore, the local-location design demonstrated that the sediment collected at each location was composed of predominately local sources as opposed to upstream sediment entering the local catchment.

Conclusions

Assessment of the sources of sediment at a range of spatial scales better accounts for both geomorphic connectivity and differences in land use throughout the watershed. Overall, each of the three fingerprinting sampling designs provided different information that can be used to guide soil and water conservation management.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Barthod L, Liu K, Lobb DA, Owens PN, Martínez-Carreras N, Koiter AJ, Petticrew EL, McCullough GK, Cenwei L, Gaspar L (2015) Selecting color-based tracers and classifying sediment sources in the assessment of sediment dynamics using sediment source fingerprinting. J Environ Qual 44:1605–1616

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bennett DA, Vitale AJ (2001) Evaluating nonpoint pollution policy using a tightly coupled spatial decision support system. Environ Manag 27:825–836

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bilotta GS, Brazier RE (2008) Understanding the influence of suspended solids on water quality and aquatic biota. Water Res 42:2849–2861

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Blann K, Anderson J, Sands G, Vondracek B (2009) Effects of agricultural drainage on aquatic ecosystems: a review. Crit Rev Environ Sci Technol 39:909–1001

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Boudreault M, Koiter AJ, Lobb DA, Owens PN, Liu K, Benoy G, Danielescu S, Li S (2018) Using colour, shape and radionuclide sediment fingerprints to identify sources of sediment in an agricultural watershed in Atlantic Canada. Can Water Resour J 43:347–365

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brantley SL, Goldhaber MB, Ragnarsdottir KV (2007) Crossing disciplines and scales to understand the critical zone. Elements 3:307–314

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Brantley SL, DiBiase RA, Russo TA, Shi Y, Lin H, Davis KJ, Kaye M, Hill L, Kaye J, Eissenstat DM (2016) Designing a suite of measurements to understand the critical zone. Earth Surf Dynam 4:211–235

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chow TL, Cormier H, Daigle JL, Ghamem I (1990) Effects of potato cropping practices on water runoff and soil erosion. Can J Soil Sci 70:137–148

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chow TL, Xing Z, Ress HW (2009) Impacts of intensive potato production on water yield and sediment load. Final report (2004-2007) on watershed evaluation of beneficial management practices (WEBs) for black brook watershed. New Brunswick, Canada

  • Chow L, Xing Z, Benoy G, Rees HW, Meng F, Jiang Y, Daigle JL (2011) Hydrology and water quality across gradients of agricultural intensity in the Little River watershed area, New Brunswick, Canada. J Soil Water Conserv 66:71–84

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Collins AL, Walling DE (2002) Selecting fingerprint properties for discriminating potential suspended sediment sources in river basins. J Hydrol 261:218–244

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Collins AL, Walling DE, Leeks GJL (1997) Source type ascription for fluvial suspended sediment based on a quantitative composite fingerprinting technique. Catena 29:1–27

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Du P, Walling DE (2017) Fingerprinting surficial sediment sources: exploring some potential problems associated with the spatial variability of source material properties. J Environ Manag 194:4–15

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Environment and Climate Change Canada (2018) Weather Office. http://climate.weather.gc.ca/. Accessed 09 Aug 2018

  • Fryirs K (2013) (dis)connectivity in catchment sediment cascades: a fresh look at the sediment delivery problem. Earth Surf Process Landf 38:30–46

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Govers G, Van Oost K, Wang Z (2014) Scratching the critical zone: the global footprint of agricultural soil erosion. Proc Earth Plan Sci 10:313–318

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Habibiandehkord R, Lobb DA, Owens PN, Flaten DN (2019) Effectiveness of vegetated buffer strips in controlling legacy phosphorus exports from agricultural land. J Environ Qual 48:314–321. https://doi.org/10.2134/jeq2018.04.0129

  • Haddadchi A, Olley J, Pietsch T (2015) Quantifying sources of suspended sediment in three size fractions. J Soils Sediments 15:2086–2100

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kemp P, Sear D, Collins A, Naden P, Jones I (2011) The impacts of fine sediment on riverine fish. Hydrol Process 25:1800–1821

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • King DJ, Eilers RG, Grant BA, Lobb DA, Padbury GA, Rees HW, Shelton IJ, Wall GJ, Vliet LJP (2000) Risk of tillage erosion. In: McRae T, Smith S, Gregorich LJ (eds) Environmental health of Canadian agroecosystems. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, pp 77–83

  • Klages MG, Hsieh YP (1975) Suspended solids carried by the Gallatin River of southwestern Montana: II. Using mineralogy for inferring sources. J Environ Qual 4:68–73

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Koiter AJ, Lobb DA, Owens PN, Petticrew EL, Li S, Tiessen KHD (2013a) Investigating the role of connectivity and scale in assessing the sources of sediment in an agricultural watershed in the Canadian prairies using sediment source fingerprinting. J Soils Sediments 13:1676–1691

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koiter AJ, Owens PN, Petticrew EL, Lobb DA (2013b) The behavioural characteristics of sediment properties and their implications for sediment fingerprinting as an approach for identifying sediment sources in river basins. Earth-Sci Rev 125:24–42

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Laceby JP, Evrard O, Smith HG, Blake WH, Olley JM, Minella JPG, Owens PN (2017) The challenges and opportunities of addressing particle size effects in sediment source fingerprinting: a review. Earth-Sci Rev 169:85–103

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lal R (2006) Managing soils for feeding a global population of 10 billion. J Sci Food Agr 86:2273–2284

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Langmaid KK, MacMillan JK, Loiser JG (1976) Soils of northern Victoria County, New Brunswick. 7th report of the New Brunswick soil survey. Canada Department of Agriculture. Thron press ltd, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada

  • Langmaid KK, Losier JG, MacMillan JK (1980) Soils of Madawaska County, New Brunswick. 8th report of the New Brunswick soil survey. Canada Department of Agriculture. Thron press ltd, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada

  • Liu K, Lobb DA, Miller JJ, Owens PN, Caron ME (2018) Determining sources of fine-grained sediment for a reach of the lower little Bow River, Alberta, using a colour-based sediment fingerprinting approach. Can J Soil Sci 98:55–69

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Loucks OL (1962) A forest classification for the maritime provinces. Proc Nova Scotian Inst Sci 25:85–167

    Google Scholar 

  • Marshall IB, Schut PH, Ballard M (1999) A National Ecological Framework for Canada: attribute data. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Research Branch, Centre for Land and Biological Resources Research, and Environment Canada, State of the Environment Directorate, Ecozone Analysis Branch, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

  • Martínez-Carreras N, Krein A, Gallart F, Iffly JF, Pfister L, Hoffmann L, Owens PN (2010) Assessment of different colour parameters for discriminating potential suspended sediment sources and provenance: a multi-scale study in Luxembourg. Geomorphology 118:118–129

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mckinley R, Radcliffe D, Mukundan R (2013) A streamlined approach for sediment source fingerprinting in a southern Piedmont watershed, USA. J Soils Sediments 13:1754–1769

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mellerowicz KT, Ress HW, Chow TL, Ghamem I (1993) Soils of the black brook watershed St. Andre parish, Madawaska County, New Brunswick. New Brunswick Department of Agriculture, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada

  • Oliver DM, Clegg CD, Heathwaite AL, Haygarth PM (2007) Preferential attachment of Escherichia coli to different particle size fractions of an agricultural grassland soil. Water Air Soil Pollut 185:369–375

  • Owens PN, Batalla RJ, Collins AJ, Gomez B, Hicks DM, Horowitz AJ, Kondolf GM, Marden M, Page MJ, Peacock DH, Petticrew EL, Salomons W, Trustrum NA (2005) Fine-grained sediment in river systems: environmental significance and management issues. River Res Applic 21:693–717

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Owens PN, Blake WH, Gaspar L, Gateuille D, Koiter AJ, Lobb DA, Petticrew EL, Raiffarth D, Smith HG, Woodward JC (2016) Fingerprinting and tracing the sources of soils and sediments: earth and ocean sciences, geoarchaeological, forensic, and human health applications. Earth-Sci Rev 162:1–23

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Parnell AC, Inger R, Bearhop S, Jackson AL (2010) Source partitioning using stable isotopes: coping with too much variation. PLoS One 5:e9672

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Phillips JM, Russell MA, Walling DE (2000) Time-integrated sampling of fluvial suspended sediment: a simple methodology for small catchments. Hydrol Process 14:2589–2602

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pimentel D (2006) Soil erosion: a food and environmental threat. Environ Devel Sustain 8:119–137

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Quinton JN, Catt JA (2007) Enrichment of heavy metals in sediment resulting from soil erosion on agricultural fields. Environ Sci Technol 41:3495–3500

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • R Core Team (2018) R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. URL: https://www.R-project.org/

  • Ritchie JC, Clebsch EEC, Rudolph WK (1970) Distribution of fallout and natural gamma radionuclides in litter, humus and surface mineral soil layers under natural vegetation in the Great Smoky Mountains, North Carolina-Tennessee. Health Phys 18:479–489

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • RStudio Team (2016) RStudio: Integrated Development for R. RStudio, Inc., Boston, MA http://www.rstudio.com/

  • Russell MA, Walling DE, Hodgkinson RA (2001) Suspended sediment sources in two small lowland agricultural catchments in the UK. J Hydrol 252:1–24

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Smith HG, Sheridan GJ, Lane PNJ, Noske PJ, Heijnis H (2011) Changes to sediment sources following wildfire in a forested upland catchment, southeastern Australia. Hydrol Process 25:2878–2889

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stock BC, Semmens BX (2016) Unifying error structures in commonly used biotracer mixing models. Ecology 97:2562–2569

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stock BC, Jackson AL, Ward EJ, Parnell AC, Phillips DL, Semmens BX (2018) Analyzing mixing systems using a new generation of Bayesian tracer mixing models. PeerJ 6c:e5096

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Su JJ, van Bochove E, Thériault G, Novotna B, Khaldoune J, Denault JT, Zhou J, Nolin MC, Hu CX, Bernier M, Benoy G, Xing ZS, Chow L (2011) Effects of snowmelt on phosphorus and sediment losses from agricultural watersheds in eastern Canada. Agric Water Manag 98:867–876

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vale SS, Fuller IC, Procter JN, Basher LR, Smith IE (2016) Application of a confluence-based sediment-fingerprinting approach to a dynamic sedimentary catchment, New Zealand. Hydrol Process 30:812–829

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Venables WN, Ripley BD (2013) Modern applied statistics with S-PLUS. Springer, New York, NY

    Google Scholar 

  • Wall GJ, Wilding LP (1976) Mineralogy and related parameters of fluvial suspended sediments in northwestern Ohio. J Environ Qual 5:168–173

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walling DE (1983) The sediment delivery problem. J Hydrol 65:209–237

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walling DE (2005) Tracing suspended sediment sources in catchments and river systems. Sci Total Environ 344:159–184

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Walling DE, Peart MR, Oldfield F, Thompson R (1979) Suspended sediment sources identified by magnetic measurements. Nature 281:110–113

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walling DE, Owens PN, Leeks GJL (1999) Fingerprinting suspended sediment sources in the catchment of the river Ouse, Yorkshire, UK. Hydrol Process 13:955–975

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weihs C, Ligges U, Luebke K, Raabe N (2005) klaR analyzing German business cycles. In: Baier D, Decker R, Schmidt-Thieme L (eds) Data analysis and decision support. Springer, Berlin, pp 335–343

  • Wethered AS, Ralph TJ, Smith HG, Fryirs KA, Heijnis H (2015) Quantifying fluvial (dis)connectivity in an agricultural catchment using a geomorphic approach and sediment source tracing. J Soils Sediments 15:2052–2066

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wickham H (2009) ggplot2: elegant graphics for data analysis. Springer, New York

  • Withers P, Jarvie H (2008) Delivery and cycling of phosphorus in rivers: a review. Sci Total Environ 400:379–395

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Yang Q, Meng F-R, Zhao Z, Chow TL, Benoy G, Rees HW, Bourque CP-A (2009) Assessing the impacts of flow diversion terraces on stream water and sediment yields at a watershed level using SWAT model. Agric Ecosyst Environ 132:23–31

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhao Z, Chow TL, Rees HW, Yang Q, Xing Z, Meng F-R (2009) Predict soil texture distributions using an artificial neural network model. Comput Electron Agric 65:36–48

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zheng Y, Luo X, Zhang W, Wu B, Han F, Lin Z, Wang X (2012) Enrichment behavior and transport mechanism of soil-bound PAHs during rainfall-runoff events. Environ Pollut 171:85–92

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

Assistance with laboratory analyses and fieldwork was provided by Serban Danielescu, Rick Allaby, Fangzhou Zheng, Zisheng Xing, Junyu Qi, Lionel Stevens, Sylvie Lavoie, John Monteith, Meagan Betts, Tegan Smith, Eva Slavicek, Yulia Kupriyanovich, and Brendon Brooks.

Funding

This work was supported by several synergy projects funded by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), and the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). Major funding projects include, but not limited to, AAFC A-base projects #1538: “Reducing sediment, N and P loading from arable cropping systems to receiving waters in eastern Canada (PEI, NB, NS, QC)”, ECCC National Agri-Environmental Standards Initiative, and NSERC strategic project (STPGP 413426-2011): “Development of environmental fingerprinting techniques for sources of sediment and associated phosphorus within agricultural watersheds of Canada”.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fredericton Research and Development Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, 850 Lincoln Road, Fredericton, New Brunswick, E3B 4Z7, Canada

    Monica Boudreault, Alexander J. Koiter & Sheng Li

  2. Department of Soil Science, University of Manitoba, 13 Freedman Crescent, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3T 2N2, Canada

    Monica Boudreault, David A. Lobb & Sheng Li

  3. Department of Geography, Brandon University, 270 18th St, Brandon, MB, R7A 6A9, Canada

    Alexander J. Koiter

  4. Swift Current Research and Development Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, 1 Airport Road, Swift Current, Saskatchewan, S9H 3X2, Canada

    Kui Liu

  5. Faculty of Forestry and Environmental Management and Canadian Rivers Institute, University of New Brunswick, 3 Bailey Drive, Fredericton, New Brunswick, E3B 5A3, Canada

    Glenn Benoy

  6. Environmental Science Program and Quesnel River Research Centre, University of Northern British Columbia, 3333 University Way, Prince George, British Columbia, V2N 4Z9, Canada

    Philip N. Owens

Authors
  1. Monica Boudreault
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Alexander J. Koiter
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. David A. Lobb
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Kui Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Glenn Benoy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Philip N. Owens
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Sheng Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Alexander J. Koiter or Sheng Li.

Additional information

Responsible editor: J. Patrick Laceby

Publisher’s note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Electronic supplementary material

Fig. S1

Median grain size of the < 2 mm fraction for the three sources and the suspended sediment at each of the five sampling locations. Red line indicates the commonly used upper limit of grain size (63 μm) used in many fingerprinting studies (PNG 148 kb)

Fig. S2

Box and whisker plots showing the distribution of the eight color-based coefficients (unitless) and the 137Cs activity (Bq kg−1) for the three sources and the suspended sediment collected at the five sampling locations (PNG 341 kb)

Fig. S3

Linear regression demonstrating the variability in the relation between median grain size (as measured on the < 2 mm fraction) and the eight color-based coefficients (unitless) and the 137Cs activity (Bq kg−1) for each of the three potential sources of sediment. (unitless) and the 137Cs activity(Bq kg−1) for each of the three potential sources of sediment (PNG 1358 kb)

ESM 1

(DOCX 15 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Boudreault, M., Koiter, A.J., Lobb, D.A. et al. Comparison of sampling designs for sediment source fingerprinting in an agricultural watershed in Atlantic Canada. J Soils Sediments 19, 3302–3318 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-019-02306-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-019-02306-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation