Seneca River Research Articles

Impact of zebra mussel invasion on river water quality

The biology of the zebra mussel is reviewed as it relates to water‐quality problems in rivers. A relationship between population densities of the zebra mussel and their respiration demands for oxygen is developed, which can be used to support the analysis of the impact of zebra mussel infestation on the oxygen resources of streams and rivers. Dramatic changes in the water quality of the Seneca River, N.Y., a major tributary to Lake Ontario, have been brought about by zebra mussel infestation. These changes are documented from 3 years of monitoring data. The infestation converted the Seneca River from a turbid, phytoplankton‐rich, nutrient‐depleted system, with nearly saturated oxygen concentrations, to a river with high clarity, low‐phytoplankton concentrations, enriched in dissolved nutrients, with greatly undersaturated oxygen concentrations. The degradation of oxygen resources was severe enough to cause violations of New York State standards for daily minimum and daily average concentrations for a number of days in the late summer of 1993. The associated loss in the waste assimilative capacity of the river is confounding waste discharge management and planning efforts in the river basin. This form of degradation is expected for other systems as the zebra mussel infestation spreads. The impact is expected to be greatest in rivers and streams with high concentrations of phytoplankton, large areas of rock substrate, and limited reaeration capacity.

Validation of Water-Quality Model for Seneca River, N.Y.

The validation of a water-quality model for the Seneca River, a deep, stratifying, slow-moving river located in central New York, is documented. Model validation is supported by comprehensive field monitoring and kinetic experiment programs, and a mass-transport model. The river is severely impacted by the inflow from ionically polluted hypereutrophic Onondaga Lake. Chemical-based density stratification is induced in the river, and attended by violations of dissolved oxygen (DO) and free ammonia standards in the lower layer of the river. The model performed well in matching DO depletions in the lower layer of the river, and diurnal variations in DO. Model projections demonstrate DO standards can only be met by eliminating chemical stratification in the river. The water-quality model is to be used to support regional planning of domestic waste treatment and disposal, including diversion of a major discharge to the river.

Modeling Cl concentration in Cayuga Lake, U.S.A.

The annual average concentration of Cl in Cayuga Lake, NY, has decreased from a value of approximately 102 mg L−1 in 1970, when the discharge of NaCl fines from an adjoining rock salt mine was discontinued, to a concentration of approximately 46 mg L−1 in 1988. A complete-mixed model for Cl concentration accurately simulated this decrease in concentration, establishing that the decrease was the result of an abrupt reduction in loading. The time course of the decrease strongly supports the position that the high Cl concentrations that prevailed in the lake in the late 1960's were largely a result of the discharge from the mining facility, and not due to the input of enriched groundwater as previously hypothesized. The predicted steady-state Cl concentration associated with the complete flushing of the mining facility input, expected in about the year 2000, is approximately 32 mg L−1. Further, the model analysis supports previous speculation that the major source of material loading to the lake, the Seneca River, ‘short-circuits’ to the outlet; i.e., this tributary should not be included in material budgets for the lake.

SPATIAL VARIABILITY IN SELECTED PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS AND PROCESSES IN CROSS LAKE, NEW YORK1

ABSTRACT: Short‐circuiting of the inflow occurs from the Seneca River across the southern portion of Cross Lake, New York. Spatial differences in thermal stratification, transparency and light attenuation, and net sedimentation are documented for the lake. The depth of the epilimnion was generally deeper, and the temperature gradient in the metalimnion was at times lower, at a deep‐water location proximate to the short‐circuiting zone, than at a position more remote from the inflow. Transparency was generally lower, and light attenuation greater, proximate to the short‐circuiting zone, indicating the contribution of attenuating components from the river. The net sedimentation rate in the short‐circuiting zone was greater and temporally more irregular than for a deep‐water position remote from the river inflow. The spatial differences in the physical characteristics and processes in Cross Lake are attributable to the magnitude and position of the inflow from the Seneca River.

Chemical stratification in the Seneca/Oswego rivers (NY)

The occurrence and characteristics of chemically-based density stratification in portions of the Seneca and Oswego Rivers, downstream of ion-polluted Onondaga Lake, are described for seven different days in the summer and fall of 1978 and 1981, which covered a wide range of river flows. The results indicate that chemically-based density stratification occurs routinely in the Seneca River downstream of the lake inflow, in response to a continuous chemically-based density difference between the two systems of 0.0015 to 0.0030 g cm−3. The persistence of the phenomenon, and therefore the longitudinal range over which the river stratification occurred, was dependent on the velocity of river flow and the magnitude of the density gradient that bordered the upper river water and the lower released lake water. During the low flows common to summer the stratification extended approximately 14 km downstream to a dam, and 3 km upstream, of the lake outlet — river junction. Vertical mixing between the stratified layers increased as the flow in the Seneca River increased, and as the vertical density gradient decreased. A dimensionless group, $$\frac{D}{{V\left( {\frac{\rho }{{\Delta _\rho /\Delta _z }}} \right)}}$$ where: D = apparent vertical diffusion (m2 hr−1), V = average velocity of the overlying river flow (m hr−1 ), p = density at the interface between the stratified layers (g cm−3), and Ap/Az = density gradient between the stratified layers (g cm−3 m−1), was found to be constant for summer low flow conditions for a 6.5 km length of the Seneca River, thus quantifying the interaction between vertical mixing and the included influences for that portion of the river.

Onodaga Lake and Dissolved Oxygen in Seneca River

An evaluation, conducted by model simulation, is presented of the impacts the elimination of chemically-based physical stratification and the range of behavior of phytoplankton released from hypereutrophic Onondaga Lake would have on the dissolved oxygen resources of the Seneca River, under critical flow, temperature, and loading conditions. Further, a method is presented for determining the minimum fraction of lake phytoplankton that will decay in a receiving river under conditions of nutrient saturation for both systems. The elimination of physical stratification in the river was predicted to cause degradation of oxygen conditions in the surface waters of the river; ranging from noncontravention to severe contravention of present standards (daily average concentration of 5.0 mgl−1). This broad range of potential impact is associated with the degree of uncertainty in behavior of lake phytoplankton in the river.

Mercury and Zinc in the Sediments of Seneca Lake, Seneca River, and Keuka Outlet, New York

Levels of total mercury and total zinc in the sediments of Seneca Lake, New York, and of its principal tributary and outflow, show a pattern of industrial and municipal pollution in a predominantly rural environment. An interpolation technique based on the relationship of heavy metal concentration to overlying water depth is used to estimate the total mercury content of the upper 2 cm of Seneca Lake sediments, and the increment of mercury above an assumed unperturbed distribution. An approximate mass balance suggests that defunct industry and a 200 megawatt coal-burning power plant represent comparable pollution sources, and that most of the emitted mercury leaves the watershed in aqueous solution or as vapor. The distribution of zinc parallels that of mercury, with a relatively constant Zn/Hg ratio in the lake sediments.

Early Plant Succession on a Dredging Spoils Island in the Seneca River of Upstate New York

Early Plant Succession on a Dredging Spoils Island in the Seneca River of Upstate New York

A Fluted Point from Long Island, N. Y.

Although fluted points are not very numerous in New York, it was there that they were first recognized as a distinct type under the name of “Seneca River Points” (Beauchamp, 1897, p. 21, Fig. 13, 14).The majority of the New York finds have been in the central section of the state and along the shores of Lake Champlain and Lake George. A search of the literature, and correspondence with both professional and amateur archaeologists, has revealed no known finds of fluted points closer to the coastal area than one at Colonie in Albany County, New York. This was of an exotic quartz (Ritchie, 1951, personal communication). Therefore the finding of a fluted point in eastern Long Island extends the known range of the type.

Culture Influences from Ohio in New York Archaeology

In the course of its long and eventful prehistory, the territory embraced in the present state of New York was invaded from nearly every direction. For several groups, notably the Iroquois, it was the end of the trail; others sojourned briefly and passed on. In part it was heavily occupied by diverse bands for a considerable period of time. This is especially true of the central and southern sections and of large parts of the Genesee Valley. The latter and the Finger Lakes region, including the Seneca River, are thickly strewn with sites of varying age and size. In one section of the Genesee Valley, just south of Rochester, hardly a knoll is opened without revealing skeletons. Other relatively intensively occupied areas are the Susquehanna drainage, parts of the Mohawk and Hudson valleys and Long Island.