Groundwater and Nutrient Inputs, Sequestration and Direct and Indirect Fluxes to Lake Erie Coastal Waters associated with Viticultural Activities, Erie County, PA
Abstract:
Along the Lake Erie coast, thousands of acres of fruit farms are cultivated over thick sand and gravel soils in catchments adjacent to coastal bluffs. These agricultural practices may be a significant source of nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) entering Lake Erie via groundwater as these catchments have minimal surface runoff (runoff <25% of recharge). Groundwater discharge not only contributes to nutrient delivery to the lake but is also hypothesized to drive bluff erosion. Consequently, groundwater can affect water quality and quantity, nutrient loads and vulnerability to erosion,which have been identified as key research areas by Pennsylvania Sea Grant.
However, in PA, no measurements have been made of groundwater flows and nutrient fluxes to Lake Erie. In this study, we propose to install groundwater wells in a Lake Erie agricultural catchment to monitor groundwater levels and nutrient concentrations in the surficial aquifer. Additionally, we propose to perform a high-resolution LiDAR scan of the catchment surface topography to estimate run off directions and design a domain for a coupled surface water-groundwater numerical model. The numerical model will consider 3-D subsurface flow effects and will be applied to test flow responses to extreme events, such as drought or heavy precipitation that may not occur during the observation period.
The observational data and numerical model results will be used to estimate groundwater and nutrient fluxes being exported to Lake Erie, evaluate whether groundwater is a driver of bluff erosion, and develop curricula to meet new Science, Technology & Engineering, Environmental Literacy and Sustainability (STEELS) standards at local middle and high schools.
