Controls on Wetland Suspended Sediment Concentrations, West Creek Reservation Parma, OH

Authors: Cody Unferdorfer, Anne Jefferson (primary advisor, Department of Geology, College of Arts and Sciences), Lauren Kinsman-Costello (co-advisor, Department of Biological Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences), Hayley Buzulencia (co-advisor, Department of Geology, College of Arts and Sciences), Laura Sugano (co-advisor, Department of Geology, College of Arts and Sciences)

Abstract

Wetlands are able to contain suspended sediment in water events and the suspended sediment impacts the organisms and nutrient cycling, and with time excess of the sediment can overtake an ecosystem and destroy it. Total suspended solids (TSS) are a measurement that shows the concentration of sediment within the water column of a stream, lake, or wetland. The TSS will provide valuable data on what is happening during and after storm events. The goal of my project is to determine whether and why suspended sediment concentrations in a wetland’s outflow vary with discharge and water source.

The samples for this study will be from a wetland in Cleveland Metropark’s West Creek Reservation in Parma, which serves as an excellent site because of its suspended sediment fluctuations, rapid response to storm events, and multiple sources of water. Suspended sediment is measured by collecting a water sample, filtering it, and weighing out the dry and clean vs the dirty and dry. Discharge is measured with an area-velocity meter at a culvert leading out of the wetland. Isotopes are used to show the differences in water sources from one storm to another. The isotopes are determined by testing water samples using a Picarro water isotope analyzer, which measures the relative concentrations of heavy and light isotopes of the oxygen and hydrogen atoms in the water molecule. The stable isotopes will show changes within and between storm events that should correspond to differences in water source.

During storm events, as the discharge increases with overland flow from the land fill, the turbidity increases in the wetland, which also increases the TSS concentration. The isotope data collected from these samples can show the rise and falls before, during, and after the storm. A preliminary conclusion to this study is that suspended sediment concentrations vary with discharge.