Publication Date:
2019
Description:
〈span〉〈div〉ABSTRACT〈/div〉The White River watershed encompasses four major tributaries within a basin area of 130 km〈sup〉2〈/sup〉 (1595 mi〈sup〉2〈/sup〉) in extreme northwestern Nebraska. An examination of the historical (1968–1975) aqueous geochemistry data (major cations and anions and total dissolved solids [TDS]) supplied by the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality revealed that the TDS is relatively low (130–1200 mg/L), excluding Big Cottonwood Creek (BCC), with a basin-wide median of 340 mg/L. The median TDS for the BCC is 1880 mg/L (brackish); the median values for Na and SO〈sub〉4〈/sub〉 are 385 and 897 mg/L, respectively. Mineralization in the river increases steadily downstream. The scatter plots of meq/L concentrations for selected anions and cations reveal the impact of silicate mineral (e.g., feldspar) weathering on the aqueous geochemistry throughout the watershed. These ubiquitous feldspar minerals most likely originated along the eastern slope of the Front Range during the Late Cretaceous and Tertiary (Laramide orogeny). Twenty-nine samples for three White River stations and the BCC exceed the US Environmental Protection Agency secondary maximum contaminant levels for TDS and/or SO〈sub〉4〈/sub〉 in drinking water supplies at 500 and 250 mg/L, respectively. Uncontaminated streams that drain marine shales (typically containing S-bearing minerals) nationwide typically show an excess of Na and a deficiency of Ca and Mg. This is due in part to cation exchange of Ca in solution for Na on clay minerals. Consequently, the weathering of shale terrains commonly produces an Na-SO〈sub〉4〈/sub〉 brackish surface-water runoff as is the case with BCC, which drains the Pierre Shale hills.〈/span〉
Print ISSN:
1075-9565
Electronic ISSN:
1526-0984
Topics:
Geography
,
Geosciences
