Formation and early history of Lakes Pepin and St. Croix of the upper Mississippi River

Blumentritt, Dylan; Wright, H. E.; Stefanova, Vania

doi:10.1007/s10933-008-9291-6

Cited by 24 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 11 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Global Biogeochemical Cycles 10.1002/2017GB005699 carbonate distribution [Blumentritt et al, 2009;Kelley et al, 2006;Radeloff et al, 2005;Winchell and Upham, 1884]. The four major tributaries draining the UMR basin include the Minnesota, St. Croix, Chippewa, and Upper Mississippi (upstream of Minneapolis, MN) Rivers ( Figure 1).…”

Section: Study Area and Sampling Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biological and land use controls on the isotopic composition of aquatic carbon in the Upper Mississippi River Basin

Voß

Wickland

Aiken

et al. 2017

Global Biogeochemical Cycles

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Riverine ecosystems receive organic matter (OM) from terrestrial sources, internally produce new OM, and biogeochemically cycle and modify organic and inorganic carbon. Major gaps remain in the understanding of the relationships between carbon sources and processing in river systems. Here we synthesize isotopic, elemental, and molecular properties of dissolved organic carbon (DOC), particulate organic carbon (POC), and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) in the Upper Mississippi River (UMR) system above Wabasha, MN, including the main stem Mississippi River and its four major tributaries (Minnesota, upper Mississippi, St. Croix, and Chippewa Rivers). Our goal was to elucidate how biological processing modifies the chemical and isotopic composition of aquatic carbon pools during transport downstream in a large river system with natural and man‐made impoundments. Relationships between land cover and DOC carbon‐isotope composition, absorbance, and hydrophobic acid content indicate that DOC retains terrestrial carbon source information, while the terrestrial POC signal is largely replaced by autochthonous organic matter, and DIC integrates the influence of in‐stream photosynthesis and respiration of organic matter. The UMR is slightly heterotrophic throughout the year, but pools formed by low‐head navigation dams and natural impoundments promote a shift toward autotrophic conditions, altering aquatic ecosystem dynamics and POC and DIC compositions. Such changes likely occur in all major river systems affected by low‐head dams and need to be incorporated into our understanding of inland water carbon dynamics and processes controlling CO2 emissions from rivers, as new navigation and flood control systems are planned for future river and water resources management.

show abstract

Section: Study Area and Sampling Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biological and land use controls on the isotopic composition of aquatic carbon in the Upper Mississippi River Basin

Voß

Wickland

Aiken

et al. 2017

Global Biogeochemical Cycles

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…2), and ages from two terraces dated on or above that elevation all predate the potential capture time. One of the last meltwater pulses from Glacial Lake Agassiz down the Minnesota River valley occurred around 10.3-10.6 ka (Blumentritt et al, 2009;Fisher 2003), which may have helped trigger the stream capture event. Sometime between 10.95 k.y.…”

Section: Role Of Base-level History and Climate Forcingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Landscape evolution, valley excavation, and terrace development following abrupt postglacial base-level fall

Gran

Finnegan

Johnson

et al. 2013

Geological Society of America Bulletin

129

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…A delta at the head of the Mississippi arm grew relatively rapidly at first, prograding across the St. Croix confluence and splitting the St. Croix arm from the main body of Lake Pepin. The continued migration of the Mississippi delta during the Holocene has displaced the present-day head of Lake Pepin some 24 km downstream of the St. Croix confluence (Blumentritt et al 2009). Present-day Lake St. Croix is 37 km long, 0.5-2 km wide and has a mean depth of 9.7 m. The northern portion of the St. Croix watershed is forested while the southern part encompasses substantial agricultural, urban and ex-urban land-use.…”

Section: Site Descriptionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Changes in amorphous silica sequestration with eutrophication of riverine impoundments

2011

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The effect of eutrophication on particulate amorphous silica (ASi) sequestration was isolated and quantified in Lake St. Croix and Lake Pepin, two natural, human-impacted impoundments of the upper Mississippi River. In contrast to impoundments behind engineered dams, where silica (Si) fluxes may be changed by various aspects of dam construction, these two riverine lakes have long (9,000? years) sedimentary sequences that record the entire span of cultural eutrophication and the resulting silica sequestration. The concentrations of dissolved silicate (DSi) and ASi in the lake inflows were measured for 1 year to obtain the total flux of bioavailable silica (TSi b = DSi ? ASi) to each impoundment. Historical rates of Si sequestration in each lake were determined using ASi burial in multiple sediment cores and modeled estimates of historical TSi b fluxes. The Si trapping efficiency of each lake was found to have increased exponentially with cultural eutrophication (estimated two-to fivefold increase in Lake St. Croix and 9-to 16-fold increase in Lake Pepin over the last 100 years), indicating the degree to which eutrophication of impoundments can reduce silica export to downstream coastal and marine ecosystems. Because these two lakes presently exhibit different degrees of eutrophication, together they depict a relationship between phosphorus concentration and Si trapping efficiency that may be applied to other impoundments, including human-made reservoirs.

show abstract

Formation and early history of Lakes Pepin and St. Croix of the upper Mississippi River

Cited by 24 publications

References 11 publications

Biological and land use controls on the isotopic composition of aquatic carbon in the Upper Mississippi River Basin

Biological and land use controls on the isotopic composition of aquatic carbon in the Upper Mississippi River Basin

Landscape evolution, valley excavation, and terrace development following abrupt postglacial base-level fall

Changes in amorphous silica sequestration with eutrophication of riverine impoundments

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About