Summer Research 2017:

Saturated Buffer Systems

So why saturated buffer research?
Why saturated buffer research?

…or in this case, the Mississippi River, which in

turn leads to the ocean.
Why saturated buffer research?
• We are causing a “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico
• Area of limited dissolved oxygen (less than 2 ppm)
• Originates at the mouth of the Mississippi River
• Nutrient overloading and algal blooms cause eutrophication, reducing
available dissolved oxygen for other organisms

https://serc.carleton.edu/microbelife/topics/deadzone/index.html
Why saturated buffer research?
• A obvious solution to the dead zone: decrease the amount of nitrate
and phosphorus coming from the Mississippi River
• Nitrate and phosphate pollution result from fertilizer runoff in the
Mississippi River drainage basin
• Most of our nation’s agricultural production occurs in this basin

https://www.nps.gov/miss/riverfacts.htm
Why saturated buffer research?
So what are the current agricultural practices that affect fertilizer runoff?

• Riparian buffers • Drainage systems

Why saturated buffer research?

Typical Drainage Systems Drainage Systems with Saturated Buffers

Why saturated buffer research?
The Big Project
• Creation of a planning tool for companies that install tile drainage
• Every field is different
• Optimize saturated buffer usage
• Minimize fertilizer runoff into ditches and streams, which lead to the
Mississippi River
• Do this through:
• Data collection
• Field Measurements
• Computational Model
This is where I come in…
• Help develop the methodology for field measurements
• Taking hydraulic retention time measurements, using:

• Tracer Molecule
• Chlorine vs. Bromine

• Electroconductivity Equipment
• Vernier conductivity probe
• EM-38
 Plan A: What we wanted to do
• Track water flow rate in a field setting with an
EM-38 and Vernier LabPro conductivity sensor
Plan A: What we wanted to do
Plan A: Results?
14
Electroconductivity Reading

12

10

8
(mS/m)

Time of Day
Site A Site B Site C Site D
Plan B: What we actually did
• Built a small-scale water transport system
• Measured hydraulic retention rate of the
soil
Plan B: What we actually did
Plan B: Expected Results
Plan B: Actual Results
How does this help the larger project?
• Determined how a salt tracer would be detected by a conductivity
probe
• Created a general methodology for a tracer-type experiment to
determine hydraulic retention rate
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
• All the alumni who funded me and made this
research possible
• Nathan Utt, my advisor
• Dr. Christina Edwards
• Dr. Adam Moser
• Dr. Jake Kurczek
• The University of Minnesota, for making the
entire saturated buffer research project possible
• The saturated buffer research team
REFERENCES
https://serc.carleton.edu/microbelife/topics/deadzone/index.html
https://www.nps.gov/miss/riverfacts.htm
https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/national/newsroom/releases/?
cid=STELPRDB1167786
http://serc.carleton.edu/microbelife/research_methods/environ_sampling/hydrotr
ace.html
http://www.geonics.com/html/em38.html
http://www.ipni.net/publication/ssmg.nsf/0/C1EA593A941AC78C852579E5007787
9D/$FILE/SSMG-30.pdf
http://www.une.edu.au/about-une/academic-schools/school-of-science-and-
technology/research/parg/research-areas-and-current-projects/em38
https://pubs.usgs.gov/wri/wri98-4126A/pdf/wri98-4126A.pdf