Surface-water-quality assessment of the lower Kansas River Basin, Kansas and Nebraska: Suspended-sediment conditions, May 1987 through April 1990, and trends, 1963 through April 1990
Water-Resources Investigations Report
94-4187
By: Paul Robert Jordan
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Abstract
Median suspended-sediment concentrations ranged from 100 to 110 milligrams per liter for 3 stations on the Kansas River and from 4 to 110 milligrams per liter for 10 stations on tributary streams during May 1987 through April 1990. For tributary stream stations upstream from large reservoirs, concen- trations in the 90th percentile ranged from 240 to 3,200 milligrams per liter. The larger median and 90th-percentile concentrations were associated with high-density irrigated cropland with gradual slopes and nonirrigated cropland with steeper slopes. Smaller median and 90th-percentile concentrations upstream from reservoirs were from areas of little or no row-crop cultivation or areas of substantially less-than-normal precipitation and streamflow. Suspended-sediment concentrations followed a con- sistent seasonal pattern; after accounting for the effect of flow, concentrations were typically smallest during January-February and largest during July-August. Mean annual suspended-sediment transport in the Kansas River from May 1987 through April 1990 increased in the downstream direction from 1,700,000 to 4,100,000 tons per year. Suspended-sediment yields for tributary streams ranged from 17 to 260 tons per square mile per year. Because of abnormal climatic conditions and other factors, no conclusions could be reached con- cerning relations of suspended-sediment transport or yield to natural or human factors. Only one upward and one downward trend in flow-adjusted, suspended-sediment concentrations were statistically significant. The trend-test results could not be explained by data on cropland removed from production or the effect of detention structures.
Suggested Citation
Jordan, P.R., 1995, Surface-water-quality assessment of the lower Kansas River Basin, Kansas and Nebraska: Suspended-sediment conditions, May 1987 through April 1990, and trends, 1963 through April 1990: U.S. Geological Survey Water-Resources Investigations Report 94-4187, iv, 36 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/wri944187.
Study Area
| Publication type | Report |
|---|---|
| Publication Subtype | USGS Numbered Series |
| Title | Surface-water-quality assessment of the lower Kansas River Basin, Kansas and Nebraska: Suspended-sediment conditions, May 1987 through April 1990, and trends, 1963 through April 1990 |
| Series title | Water-Resources Investigations Report |
| Series number | 94-4187 |
| DOI | 10.3133/wri944187 |
| Year Published | 1995 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | U.S. Geological Survey |
| Description | iv, 36 p. |
| Country | United States |
| State | Kansas, Nebraska |
| Other Geospatial | lower Kansas River Basin |