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Impact of storm events on the transport of solutes and macronutrients in mountainous catchments under contrasting land uses at the Cathedral Peak research site, Drakensberg

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science
August 2017. / Streamwater chemistry is influenced by several factors that include: geology, soil-geology interactions, land use, climate change, topography, vegetation, mechanical and chemical weathering. The dominance of these factors when determining the chemistry of streamwater varies from one situation to the other. Four different catchments in the Drakensberg were monitored to identify the processes determining temporal and seasonal patterns in streamwater chemistry. The land uses of the catchment include: CP03 (previously afforested, degraded), CP04 (pristine grasslands), CP06 (pristine grasslands) and CP09 (protection from fire). All the catchments were investigated for differences in major ion concentrations, streamwater temperatures, dissolved organic carbon (DOC), dissolved oxygen, pH, conductivity. There were comparisons made between historical and recent data collected at the Cathedral Peak Research Site. Comparisons were made between CP03 and CP06 to identify effects of storm events on streamwater chemistry. CP03 and CP09 had significant statistical differences in terms of major ions. Land use and stormflow path ways were most influential in determining the streamwater chemistry across catchments. / LG2018

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/24982
Date January 2017
CreatorsLenkwe, Aobakwe
Source SetsSouth African National ETD Portal
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis
FormatOnline resource (xi, 200 leaves), application/pdf, application/pdf

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