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The Role of Snowmelt and Spring Rainfall in Inorganic Nutrient Fluxes from a Large Temperate Watershed, the Androscoggin River Basin (Maine and New Hampshire)

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Abstract

The importance of snowmelt and spring rainfall to water and nutrient exports from macro-scale watersheds (>1000 km2) is not well established. Data collected from the Androscoggin River watershed (Maine and New Hampshire) between February 1999 and March 2002 show that the 90-day spring melt period accounted for 39–57% of total annual discharge and is likely driven both by snowpack melting and spring rainfall. While large loads of dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) are delivered to the watershed from snowmelt and rain (from 1.16× 106 to 1.61× 106 kg N over the study years), only one third of this N load is exported from the basin during the snowmelt period (0.40× 106–0.48 × 106 kg N). Despite reduced residence time and temperature limitations on biological N retention, there is a poor mass balance between DIN input to the watershed and the nitrogen exported from mouth of the river. Inferences from a geochemical hydrograph separation suggests that approximately 51–63% of the water leaving the mouth of the Androscoggin river is from these ‘new’ water sources (rain and snowmelt) while 37–49% is from DIN depleted soil and groundwater. Mixing of water from different sources, as well as nutrient retention by dams in the upper watershed, may account for the large discrepancy between DIN inputs and exports from this watershed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island, South Ferry Road, Narragansett, RI, 02882, United States

    Autumn J. Oczkowski

  2. Institute for Earth, Oceans, and Space, Morse Hall, The University of New Hampshire, 39 College Road, Durham, N.H., 03824, USA

    Brian A. Pellerin, Christopher W. Hunt, Wilfred M. Wollheim, Charles J. Vörösmarty & Theodore C. Loder III

  3. Present Address: U.S.G.S., 6000 J Street, Sacramento, CA, 95819, USA

    Brian A. Pellerin

Authors
  1. Autumn J. Oczkowski
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  2. Brian A. Pellerin
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  3. Christopher W. Hunt
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  4. Wilfred M. Wollheim
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  5. Charles J. Vörösmarty
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  6. Theodore C. Loder III
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Correspondence to Autumn J. Oczkowski.

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Oczkowski, A.J., Pellerin, B.A., Hunt, C.W. et al. The Role of Snowmelt and Spring Rainfall in Inorganic Nutrient Fluxes from a Large Temperate Watershed, the Androscoggin River Basin (Maine and New Hampshire). Biogeochemistry 80, 191–203 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-006-9017-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-006-9017-7

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