This project focused on the influence of tile outlet terrace (TOT) croplands on nitrogen and sediment fluxes. Specifically, researchers concentrated on three TOT fields, where the tiles drained to constructed wetlands.
In this course of the research, investigators measured water fluxes and water chemistry into and out of the wetlands during wet weather periods. Rainfall, water velocity and water levels were measured continuously. Automated samplers assessed water chemistry during storm events, and grab samples were collected weekly/biweekly from within the wetlands in order to understand wetland water chemistry variability. During the final year of the project, researchers continued collecting water samples and soil water in fields using lysimeters. They also completed a bulk chemical analysis of soil. These data were used together to separate storm hydrographs to event and pre-event water, to determine the sources and interactions of pre-event water and to develop a conceptual model of nitrogen transformation and flux for TOT systems.
Project Leaders:
Pamela L. Sullivan, Department of Geography and Atmospheric Science, University of Kansas
Edward Peltier, Civil and Environmental and Architectural Engineering, University of Kansas
