Canadian River Research Articles

Processes affecting δ 34S and δ 18O values of dissolved sulfate in alluvium along the Canadian River, central Oklahoma, USA

The δ 34S and δ 18O values for dissolved sulfate in groundwater are commonly used in aquifer studies to identify sulfate reservoirs and describe biogeochemical processes. The utility of these data, however, often is compromised by mixing of sulfate sources within reservoirs and isotope fractionation during sulfur redox cycling. Our study shows that, after all potential sulfate sources are identified and isotopically characterized, the δ 34S SO4 and δ 18O SO4 values differentiate processes such as sulfate-source mixing, sulfide oxidation, barite dissolution, and organosulfur decomposition. During bacterial reduction of sulfate, the values reflect kinetic sulfur isotope fractionation and exchange of oxygen isotopes between sulfate and water. Detailed analysis of the chemistry (Cl and SO 4 concentrations) and isotopic composition (δ 2H H2O and δ 18O H2O) of groundwater in an alluvial aquifer in Central Oklahoma, USA allowed the identification of five distinct end members that supply water to the aquifer (regional groundwater flowing into the study area, river water, leachate from a closed landfill that operated within the site, rain, and surface runoff). The δ 34S SO4 and δ 18O SO4 values in each end member differentiated three sources of sulfate: sulfate dissolved from Early to Late Permian rocks within the drainage basin (δ 34S SO4 = 8–12‰ and δ 18O SO4 = 10‰), iron sulfides oxidized by molecular oxygen during low water-table levels (δ 34S SO4 = − 16‰ and δ 18O SO4 = 10‰), and organosulfur compounds (predominately ester sulfates) from decomposition of vegetation on the surface and from landfill trash buried in the alluvium (δ 34S SO4 = 8‰ and δ 18O SO4 = 6‰). During bacterial reduction of these sulfate sources, similar isotope fractionation processes are recorded in the parallel trends of increasing δ 34S SO4 and δ 18O SO4 values. When extensive reduction occurs, the kinetic sulfur isotope fractionation (estimated by ε H2S–SO4 = − 23‰) results in the steady increase of δ 34S SO4 values to greater than 70‰. Equilibrium isotope fractionation during exchange of sulfate oxygen and water oxygen, a process not commonly observed in field-based studies, is documented in δ 18O SO4 values asymptotically approaching 21‰, the value predicted for conditions at the study site ( ε SO4–H2O = 27‰). These results show that recognition of all potential sulfate sources is a critical first step to resolving complexities in δ 34S SO4 and δ 18O SO4 data. The approach taken in this study can be used in other aquifer systems where the identification of multiple sulfate sources and sulfur redox cycling is important to understanding natural processes and anthropogenic influences.

Effect of Contaminated Suspended Solids on Water and Sediment Qualities and Their Treatment

Abstract Suspended solids (SS) have been discharged into water areas such as rivers, lakes, and ponds. The SS adsorb various contaminants such as heavy metals and nutrients and also form sediments by sedimentation. Therefore, contaminated SS will be able to influence not only the water quality, but also the sediment quality. In order to understand the effect of contaminated SS on the water and the sediment, SS and sediment samples were obtained from the des Hurons River in Canada. In addition, laboratory filtration tests were performed to develop a technique for removal of the SS. A downward filtration system was used with a nonwoven geotextile as a filter medium. The apparent opening size (AOS) and the thickness of the filter were 150 μm and 0.2 cm, respectively. For the investigation, the results showed that both SS and the sediments contained heavy metals with concentrations in the SS higher. In particular, zinc concentrations of the SS were approximately from two to five times higher than the Canadian guideline for sediments. In addition, it was found that SS concentrations were associated with chemical oxygen demand (COD) and total phosphorus (T-P) concentrations. Therefore, it was found that SS can play an important role in the water and the sediment qualities. The laboratory filtration tests showed the SS were reduced from 32 mg/L to 2 mg/L or less by the nonwoven filter. Thus, SS removal will improve not only the water quality, but also the quality of the bottom sediments.

Identification of temporal trends in annual and seasonal low flows occurring in Canadian rivers: The effect of short- and long-term persistence

In order to investigate trends in time series of hydrological variables, observational records are generally assumed to be independent (IND) or having short-term persistence (STP), as opposed to long-term persistence (LTP). This study systematically investigates the effect of these assumptions for estimating significance of trends using simulated time series of known STP- and LTP-like serial structures and using observational records of annual, winter and summer 30-day low flows occurring in pristine rivers basins of Canada. For the analyses, the Mann–Kendall (MK) test and two modified versions of this test and a block bootstrap resampling based test is used to estimate significance of temporal trends under the assumptions of IND and STP. A semiparametric and a parametric procedure based on the fractional autoregressive integrated moving average modeling approach and a MK scaling test are used to estimate significance of temporal trends under the assumption of LTP. The results of the study suggest that for the majority of the time series of low flows analyzed, the assumption of IND or STP cannot be ruled out. On the contrary, the fluctuating behavior of trends revealed in selected time series of low flows, with longer records, using moving window technique favor the LTP hypothesis. However, only a modest evidence for the presence of LTP in low flow time series using estimates of the Hurst exponent could be revealed, perhaps because of small sample uncertainties. In general, the results of trend investigation suggest that the estimates of trend significance are highly sensitive to IND, STP and LTP assumptions, e.g. adopting IND assumption instead of LTP for a given set of hydrological time series exhibiting LTP, could result in incorrect estimation of trend significance. Also, substituting IND assumption for STP would result in incorrect estimates of trend significance. Therefore, for reliable trend investigation, satisfactory identification of STP- or LTP-like behavior in hydrological time series, which seldom exceed 100 years, is important and challenging and must be given adequate attention in all trend investigation studies.

Identification of hydrological trends in the presence of serial and cross correlations: A review of selected methods and their application to annual flow regimes of Canadian rivers

Identification of temporal changes in hydrological regimes of river basins is an important topic in contemporary hydrology because of the potential impacts of climate change on river flow regimes. For this purpose, generally parametric and nonparametric techniques have been employed; the latter have been widely used mainly because of a fewer number of assumptions involved in their implementation. The results of these techniques when applied at local/point scales are affected by the presence of serial correlation in time series of hydrological variables and interpretation of the collective results is sensitive to cross correlation present in a hydrological network. Though challenging, often these issues have received little attention in a majority of studies on trends. This study reviews the usefulness of some selected methods for the identification of hydrological trends in the presence/absence of short-term serial and cross correlations. To facilitate easy comprehension and clear demonstration of the ability of various reviewed methods for detecting trends in time series of hydrological variables and interpreting their collective results, a complete case study of annual mean daily flows of Canadian river basins, included in the reference hydrometric basin network, is presented and discussed. Such a comparative evaluation of various methods has never been attempted earlier. Both the reviewed literature and detailed results of the case study demonstrate that failure to incorporate the effects of serial and cross correlations in the trend investigation study could result in erroneous conclusions. Hence, the old practice of identifying hydrological trends without the consideration of serial and cross correlations should be avoided and these characteristics should be given adequate attention in all studies on temporal trends.

Effects of deglaciation on circumpolar distribution of arctic vegetation

An understanding of the factors controlling the distribution of arctic vegetation will allow better prediction of the effects of climate change. This study examines the effect of the age of landscapes on the distribution of arctic vegetation. We compared time since deglaciation with the distribution of vegetation types and Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) satellite measures of greenness (normalized difference vegetation index, NDVI). Most of the older arctic landscapes occur between the Taimyr Peninsula in Russia and the Mackenzie River in Canada. The vegetation types most commonly associated with the oldest landscapes include tussock-sedge, dwarf-shrub, moss-tundra, and sedge-shrub wetlands. Most of the Arctic, including most bioclimate subzones and most vegetation types, showed increasing NDVI with increasing landscape age. Landscapes showed rapid increases in NDVI during the first several thousand years after deglaciation. Relatively low NDVI values occurred on landscapes 5000 – 15 000 years old, as on the Canadian Shield. Higher NDVI values occurred on landscapes older than 20 000 years. Landscape age accounted for 34% of the variation in NDVI for landscapes younger than 900 000 years. The coldest parts of the Arctic (subzone A) and vegetation types that grow primarily in these areas did not show any trend with landscape age.

External morphometry of captive Canadian river otter (Lontra canadensis): comparison of body proportions between a neonate and adults

External morphometry of captive Canadian river otter (<i>Lontra canadensis</i>): comparison of body proportions between a neonate and adults

A Life History Model for Peppered Chub, a Broadcast‐Spawning Cyprinid

AbstractWe estimated age‐specific fecundity and survival rates for peppered chub Macrhybopsis tetranema from the Canadian River, New Mexico and Texas. We used these estimates to construct a life history matrix model that assumed age‐0 survival was related to river discharge. Model predictions agreed well with the observed abundance of peppered chub for the 6‐year period from 1996 to 2001. Based on the Akaike information criterion, this model received greater support from observed catches of peppered chub than did two alternative null models (one null model assumed a static or fixed population and the other assumed a population with a constant growth rate over the 6‐year study period). Elasticity analysis showed that the peppered chub population growth rate was most sensitive to changes in age‐0 survival (elasticity = 0.48) and age‐1 fecundity (elasticity = 0.44). We performed sensitivity simulations to determine the effect of parameter uncertainty on the observed elasticities. Based on 1,000 simulations, we found that the peppered chub population growth rate was most sensitive to age‐0 survival and age‐1 fecundity and was robust with respect to uncertainty in our estimates of these parameters. Our model accurately predicts changes in peppered chub abundance based on river discharge and provides a mechanistic explanation for previous anecdotal observations indicating that the reproductive success of peppered chub is related to river discharge.

Survival of Migrating Salmon Smolts in Large Rivers With and Without Dams

The mortality of salmon smolts during their migration out of freshwater and into the ocean has been difficult to measure. In the Columbia River, which has an extensive network of hydroelectric dams, the decline in abundance of adult salmon returning from the ocean since the late 1970s has been ascribed in large measure to the presence of the dams, although the completion of the hydropower system occurred at the same time as large-scale shifts in ocean climate, as measured by climate indices such as the Pacific Decadal Oscillation. We measured the survival of salmon smolts during their migration to sea using elements of the large-scale acoustic telemetry system, the Pacific Ocean Shelf Tracking (POST) array. Survival measurements using acoustic tags were comparable to those obtained independently using the Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT) tag system, which is operational at Columbia and Snake River dams. Because the technology underlying the POST array works in both freshwater and the ocean, it is therefore possible to extend the measurement of survival to large rivers lacking dams, such as the Fraser, and to also extend the measurement of survival to the lower Columbia River and estuary, where there are no dams. Of particular note, survival during the downstream migration of at least some endangered Columbia and Snake River Chinook and steelhead stocks appears to be as high or higher than that of the same species migrating out of the Fraser River in Canada, which lacks dams. Equally surprising, smolt survival during migration through the hydrosystem, when scaled by either the time or distance migrated, is higher than in the lower Columbia River and estuary where dams are absent. Our results raise important questions regarding the factors that are preventing the recovery of salmon stocks in the Columbia and the future health of stocks in the Fraser River.

Temporal evolution of low‐flow regimes in Canadian rivers

This study investigates temporal evolution of 1‐, 7‐, 15‐, and 30‐day annual and seasonal low‐flow regimes of pristine river basins, included in the Canadian reference hydrometric basin network (RHBN), for three time frames: 1974–2003, 1964–2003, and 1954–2003. For the analysis, the RHBN stations are classified into three categories, which correspond to stations where annual low flows occur in winter only, summer only, and both summer and winter seasons, respectively. Unlike in previous studies for the RHBN, such classification is essential to better understand and interpret the identified trends in low‐flow regimes in the RHBN. Nonparametric trend detection and bootstrap resampling approaches are used for the assessment of at‐site temporal trends under the assumption of no persistence or short‐term persistence (STP). The results of the study demonstrate that previously suggested prewhitening and trend‐free prewhitening approaches, for incorporating the effect of STP on trend significance, are not adequate for reliably identifying trends in low‐flow regimes compared to a simple bootstrap‐based approach. The analyses of 10 relatively longer records reveal that trends in low‐flow regimes exhibit fluctuating behavior, and hence, their temporal and spatial interpretations appear to be sensitive to the time frame chosen for the analysis. Furthermore, under the assumption of long‐term persistence (LTP), which is a possible explanation for the fluctuating behavior of trends, many of the significant trends in low‐flow regimes, noted under the assumption of STP, become nonsignificant and their field significance also disappears. Therefore correct identification of STP or LTP in time series of low‐flow regimes is very important as it has serious implications for the detection and interpretation of trends.

Composition and Abundance of Drifting Fish Larvae in the Canadian River, Texas

ABSTRACT We documented the species composition and abundance of drifting ichthyoplankton in the Canadian River, Texas during the 2000 and 2001 reproductive seasons. Eleven species of fishes representing four families were collected. Arkansas River shiner (Notropis girardi), red shiner (Cyprinella lutrensis), peppered chub (Macrlzybopsis tetranema), and plains minnow (Hybognathus placitus) were the most abundant species in the drift. The density of drifting larvae ranged from 0 to 10 fish 100 m−3 in 2000 and from 0 to 4 fish.100 m−3 in 2001. However, density was typically less than 3 fish. 100 m−3 except for June in both years when the greatest peaks in density occurred. The overall abundance of drifting larvae was much greater during the 2000 reproductive season than it was during the 2001 reproductive season. This is likely a result of consistently greater stream discharge that occurred during 2000.

Drought analysis of monthly hydrological sequences: a case study of Canadian rivers

Two parameters of importance in hydrological droughts viz. the longest duration, LT and the largest severity, ST (in standardized form) over a desired return period, T years, have been analysed for monthly flow sequences of Canadian rivers. An important point in the analysis is that monthly sequences are non-stationary (periodic-stochastic) as against annual flows, which fulfil the conditions of stochastic stationarity. The parameters mean, μ, standard deviation, σ (or coefficient of variation), lag1 serial correlation, ρ, and skewness, γ (which is helpful in identifying the probability distribution function) of annual flow sequences, when used in the analytical relationships, are able to predict expected values of the longest duration, E(LT ) in years and the largest standardized severity, E(ST ). For monthly flow sequences, there are 12 sets of these parameters and thus the issue is how to involve these parameters to derive the estimates of E(LT ) and E(ST ). Moreover, the truncation level (i.e. the monthly mean value) varies from month to month. The analysis in this paper demonstrates that the drought analysis on an annual basis can be extended to monthly droughts simply by standardizing the flows for each month. Thus, the variable truncation levels corresponding to the mean monthly flows were transformed into one unified truncation level equal to zero. The runs of deficits in the standardized sequences are treated as drought episodes and thus the theory of runs forms an essential tool for analysis. Estimates of the above parameters (denoted as μav, σav, ρav, and γav) for use in the analytical relationships were obtained by averaging 12 monthly values for each parameter. The product- and L-moment ratio analyses indicated that the monthly flows in the Canadian rivers fit the gamma probability distribution reasonably well, which resulted in the satisfactory prediction of E(LT ). However, the prediction of E(ST ) tended to be more satisfactory with the assumption of a Markovian normal model and the relationship E(ST ) ≈ E(LT ) was observed to perform better.

Daily Survival Rates for Juveniles of Six Great Plains Cyprinid Species

AbstractWe collected age‐0 fish from the Canadian and Brazos rivers, Texas, and used otolith microstructure to estimate daily survival rates for juveniles of six cyprinid species during their first summer. Across all samples, daily survival rates averaged 0.944 and ranged from 0.920 to 0.964. Daily survival differed between fish from the Canadian River (mean = 0.948) and those from the Brazos River (mean = 0.936). For the four species collected from the Canadian River, daily survival differed among years. However, there was no difference between years in daily survival of two Brazos River species. Our study provides the first estimates of survival for larval and juvenile Great Plains cyprinids.

Differences in Evaporation Between a Floating Pan and Class A Pan on Land1

Abstract: Research was conducted to develop a method for obtaining floating pan evaporation rates in a small (less than 10,000 m2) wetland, lagoon, or pond. Floating pan and land pan evaporation data were collected from March 1 to August 31, 2005, at a small natural wetland located in the alluvium of the Canadian River near Norman, Oklahoma, at the U.S. Geological Survey Norman Landfill Toxic Substances Hydrology Research Site. Floating pan evaporation rates were compared with evaporation rates from a nearby standard Class A evaporation pan on land. Floating pan evaporation rates were significantly less than land pan evaporation rates for the entire period and on a monthly basis. Results indicated that the use of a floating evaporation pan in a small free‐water surface better simulates actual physical conditions on the water surface that control evaporation. Floating pan to land pan ratios were 0.82 for March, 0.87 for April, 0.85 for May, 0.85 for June, 0.79 for July, and 0.69 for August.

Prehistoric Agriculture on the Canadian River of the Texas Panhandle: New Insights from West Pasture Sites on the M-Cross Ranch

The year 2007 marks the 100th anniversary of the first archaeological excavation at a Plains Village site in the Texas Panhandle. Despite nearly a century of research, we still know very little about these people. We know that they were bison hunters and farmers, but some researchers have suggested that farming was of minimal importance to the Antelope Creek villagers of the Panhandle. This notion is based on limited data and warrants reexamination. Recent work at Hank’s site and other sites on the M-Cross Ranch in Roberts County provides new archaeological evidence of prehistoric agriculture in the eastern Panhandle. The relatively short, spring-fed tributary canyons along the north side of the Canadian River valley were an attractive setting for the Plains Village people. They probably practiced dryland farming in naturally wet areas on alluvial terraces but also may have employed simple water management techniques that left little or no archaeological signature.

Simulating the impacts of groundwater pumping on stream–aquifer dynamics in semiarid northwestern Oklahoma, USA

Visual MODFLOW, a numerical groundwater flow model, was used to evaluate the impacts of groundwater exploitation on streamflow depletion in the Alluvium and Terrace aquifer of the Beaver-North Canadian River (BNCR) in northwestern Oklahoma, USA. Water demand in semi-arid northwestern Oklahoma is projected to increase by 53% during the next five decades, driven primarily by irrigation, public water supply, and agricultural demand. Using MODFLOW’s streamflow routing package, pumping-induced changes in baseflow and stream leakage were analyzed to estimate streamflow depletion in the BNCR system. Simulation results indicate groundwater pumping has reduced baseflow to streams by approximately 29% and has also increased stream leakage into the aquifer by 18% for a net streamflow loss of 47%. The magnitude and intensity of streamflow depletion, however, varies for different stream segments, ranging from 0 to 20,804 m3/d. The method provides a framework for isolating and quantifying impacts of aquifer pumping on stream function in semiarid alluvial environments.

PCBs, PBDEs and pesticides released to the Arctic Ocean by the Russian Rivers Ob and Yenisei

The Ob and Yenisei Rivers contribute 37% of riverine freshwater inputs to the Arctic Basin and thus represent an important pathway for the land-Arctic ocean exchange of contaminants. Sampling was carried out in the Yenisei (2003) and Ob (2005) River estuaries and Kara Sea to address the general lack of reliable dissolved contaminant flux data for these major rivers. Contaminant analyses were performed by high resolution mass spectrometry on sample extracts taken from filtered large volume water samples (50-100 L) and concentrated in situ onto XAD-2 resin columns. Hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs), the polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) mixtures Sovol and trichlorodiphenyl, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), as well as "penta" brominated technical mixtures of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are important contributors to persistent organohalogen contamination for these waterways. Dissolved fluxes to the Kara Sea were estimated at sigmaHCH 246 kg/yr, sigmaPCB 63 kg/yr, sigmaDDT 16 kg/yr, hexachlorobenzene 8 kg/yr, alpha-endosulfan 8 kg/ yr, dieldrin 5 kg/yr, sigmaPBDE 4 kg/yr, and chlordanes 4 kg/yr. Contaminant fluxes from these rivers are similar to those reported for major Canadian rivers, confirming expectations that the Ob and Yenisei are also major point sources for the Arctic basin.

Global streamflows – Part 3: Country and climate zone characteristics

Summary This is the final paper in a series of three dealing with global hydrology based on a world-wide historical data set of monthly and annual streamflow records. In this paper hypothetical reservoir capacity estimates and reservoir-yield performance characteristics are compared between countries and between climate zones. The comparison for each characteristic is based mainly on its median value. For the comparison based on countries, the median value for 17 countries was based on at least 10 rivers, and for a further 19 countries on at least three rivers within the country. For the 30 Koppen climate zones, 13 zones had at least 10 rivers and a further seven zones were represented by at least three rivers. Some conclusions include: rivers in the Sahel region of Africa exhibit larger inter-decadal variances compared with those for other global rivers; the observation that western Canadian rivers display longer run lengths than expected from an AR(1) model may be due to the influence of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation; between countries, storage resilience is strongly positively related to reliability, and dimensionless vulnerability is strongly negatively related to reliability; and, finally, rivers in countries that exhibit low resilience tend to show high dimensionless vulnerability. It was also observed for several rivers in Finland and Sudan, that large natural lakes, not unexpectedly, increase streamflow auto-correlation and thereby reduce a reservoir’s ability to recover quickly following a major deficit.

Spectral decomposition of 3D ground-penetrating radar data from an alluvial environment

This study uses spectral decomposition of GPR data to recognize tuning in a wedge of unconsolidated alluvial sediments. It also compares the spectral decomposition analysis to the results of more traditional attributes such as instantaneous frequency. The study area is on the northern bank of the Canadian River, south of Norman, Oklahoma, USA. (Figure 1). The alluvium ranges in thickness from approximately 10 to 15 m and is mostly sand, with varying amounts of silt and clay and rare occurrences of gravel. Underlying the alluvium is the Hennessey Shale.

Macroinvertebrate distribution in a reach of a north temperate eastern Canadian river: Relative importance of detritus, substrate and flow

The importance of microhabitat variables to stream macroinvertebrates can be difficult to assess due to the large number and intercorrelation of relevant environmental variables. In this study, substrate, detritus, and hydraulic variables were evaluated in patches arranged in a grid across a run of the West River, an agricultural river in Prince Edward Island, Canada, and related to spatial variation in macroinvertebrate densities. Samples were collected in August and November, 2001, then densities of individual taxa were compared to patch characteristics (substrate and detritus size composition, algal cover, shear velocity, mean velocity, Froude number, depth) and to location of the patch in the stream reach. Patterns were compared using redundancy analysis and variance partitioning. Detritus variables were more important than sediment or hydraulic variables in explaining variations in invertebrate densities, but these were intercorrelated with hydraulic and substrate variables. Contrary to literature reports, densities of several taxa were highest in the patches with the finest substrates, but these were also the patches with the highest amounts of deposited detritus. Simuliium (Diptera, black flies) was the only taxon to show a strong positive relationship to hydraulic parameters. Physical patch variation explained only 37-50 % of the variation in overall macroinvertebrate densities, and physical variation had a stronger effect in autumn than in summer. Three taxa were investigated in detail to evaluate responses in representative deposit-feeding taxa. Patch variation explained 50-80 % of variation in densities of Optioservus (Coleoptera: Elmidae) and leuctrid/capniid stoneflies (Plecoptera), but only about 20-50 % of the variation in Antocha (Diptera: Tipulidae).

“Thinking like a River”: The Making of Hugh MacLennan’s Environmental Consciousness

Hugh MacLennan (1907-90), although most often identified with themes of Canadian cultural dualism and Maritime regional identity, contributed to the growing chorus of environmental concern that emerged between the 1960s and 1970s. Two collections of essays, Seven Rivers of Canada (1961) and Rivers of Canada (1974), best demonstrate this interest. In the 13 years between the publication of the first and second volumes, MacLennan’s environmental consciousness was awakened. A distinct change of tone appears in the 1974 collection. Here, he moved from a glorification of the “heroic” age of exploration that occupied his attention in Seven Rivers of Canada to an urgency to protect Canadian rivers from pollution and damming. This epiphany is best exemplified by his insistence that Canadians must begin to “think like a river” if they were to understand the span of time and space involved in the national experience.