Diffusive fluxes and equilibrium processes in relation to phosphorus dynamics in the Upper Mississippi River

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AbstractWe examined total suspended solids (TSS) and phosphorus (P) dynamics in the Upper Mississippi River (UMR) above naturally impounded Lake Pepin between 1994 and 1996, with attention to P loadings which may be contributing to impaired water quality conditions. The Minnesota River, located 97 km upstream of Lake Pepin, accounted for most of the annual and summer TSS and total P load while the Metropolitan Wastewater Treatment Plant, located 80 km upstream of Lake Pepin, accounted for much of the annual soluble reactive P (SRP) loading to the UMR. Lake Pepin retained 80% and 13% of the TSS and total P load, respectively, during the summer period. However, the lake was a source of SRP during the same period, exporting up to 130% of the summer SRP load it received. Diffusive P flux from profundal sediments averaged 7.5 mg m−2 d−1 during the summer, accounting for 41% of the net SRP export from the lake. Recently deposited sediments in Lake Pepin (originating primarily from the Minnesota River) also exhibited a high equilibrium P concentration (EPC=0.155 mg l−1) and linear adsorption coefficient (Kd=1043 l kg−1). Application of these P equilibrium characteristics to TSS loads entering the system resulted in a calculated potential P desorption flux from TSS of 2.0 mg m−2 d−1 during the summer. Potential P desorption flux to the system was driven by dilution of SRP concentrations in the Mississippi River below the EPC by SRP‐deficient inflows of the St Croix River, located 16 km upstream of the lake. P desorption was, thus, an important additional internal P flux that is not commonly included in P budgets of riverine systems. Published in 2004 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.