B11L-04
Impact of Climate Variability on the Hydrogeochemistry of Ecologically Important Prairie Wetlands and Lakes

Monday, 14 December 2015: 08:45
2004 (Moscone West)
Martin B Goldhaber1, Christopher T Mills2, David M Mushet3, Craig A Stricker1 and Jennifer Rover4, (1)USGS-Denver Federal Center, Denver, CO, United States, (2)USGS Central Region Office, Lakewood, CO, United States, (3)USGS, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center, Jamestown, ND, United States, (4)USGS, Earth Resource Observation and Science, Baltimore, MD, United States
Abstract:
The Prairie Pothole region encompasses 715,000 km2 of the north central US and south central Canada and contains millions of small wetlands and lakes. It sustains large populations of shore birds and migratory waterfowl. PPR ecology is influenced by wetland geochemistry, which can range dramatically over short distances (≤ 200m) from dilute Ca2+-HCO3- to saline Na+-Mg2+-SO42- compositions. These compositional differences result, in part, from long-term critical zone processes in upland areas coupled to groundwater inflow, but they are also influenced by climate. Climate impacts on the geochemistry of 167 wetlands/lakes from a 9700 km2 area of North Dakota (USA) were studied. The chemical composition of these wetlands was determined in the early 1970’s during slightly dry climatic conditions and again in 2012-2013, a period of exceptional precipitation. Dilution dominated wetland geochemical trends. Concentrations of Cl-, Na+, K+, and Mg2+ generally decreased in 2012-2013 compared to earlier data. In contrast Ca2+ increased, and SO42- change was variable. The processes driving these modifications were evaluated using inverse (mass balance based) geochemical modeling. The decrease in the largely inert ion, Na+ by rainwater addition was used to approximate the net dilution factor of the wetlands which ranged to >9. This volume increase was associated with large expansions of wetland area determined from time-series Landsat data. Introducing dissolution of authigenic CaCO3, a known constituent of wetland sediments, matched the observed Ca2+ increase. Addition of SO42--enriched groundwater (composition determined from well analyses) was required to model wetlands with increased SO42-. Those wetlands with increased SO42- had more negative δ34SSO4 values, a result consistent with a previously established isotopically light marine pyrite source for groundwater SO42-. Understanding the evolution of wetland chemistry may aid in assessing future climatic impacts to the PPR.