Biogeochemistry of a Suburban Basin

A long-term research effort was recently established in the Lamprey River basin in southeastern New Hampshire. The watershed is largely forested, and has significant amounts of wetlands due to the relatively low topographic relief. Human population growth is rapid, resulting in conversion of forest and agricultural land to housing tracts. The primary focus of the project will be to examine the relationships between land use, land cover and water quality as the watershed continues to increase in population density. A secondary emphasis will be to examine the interactions between hydrologic flow paths, climatic variability, and biogeochemical processes that drive groundwater and surface water quality in the basin. Our initial work has quantified landscape attributes and related them to water quality. Results to date show that small tributary streams are relatively high in nitrogen relative to the main stem of the Lamprey; that human population density drives nitrate concentrations in the basin; and that DOC flux is predicted well by the model of Aitkenhead and McDowell that links DOC flux to watershed C:N ratio.