The purpose of this study was to investigate how increasing erosion, caused by increasing precipitation due to climate change, could have an effect on groundwater. Four maps were created using ArcGIS 10.4.1 (ArcMap). The maps include information from climate scenario RCP 8.5 referring to a baseline period from 1961 to 1990, flowage by natural casual factors like water storage or shifting rainfalls, and the geographical representation showing diversity of soil types within Umeå municipality. Each map was analyzed with the risk classification method referred to as - Methods for Inventories of Contaminated Site (MIFO). The study was limited to sites with objects of risk class 1 and 2. The results of the study showed that changes in climate can have a direct impact on precipitation in Västerbotten (Umeå municipality). With increased precipitation the risk of flooding increases in watercourses, which in this study refers to Umeälven. The result showed a high variability of soil erosion in areas near Umeälven where groundwater storage for water supplies were found. Three objects with preliminary class 2 were identified in this area. Other studies have shown that increasing rainfall may, affect soil stability and cause increased soil erosion, and therefore increase the mobility of metals in the soil. The conclusion of this study is that increased precipitation due to a changing climate could cause an increase soil erosion and landslides. This could increase mobility and erosion of soil contaminated with heavy metals and potentially contaminate important areas downstream Umeälven.
Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:umu-157152 |
Date | January 2019 |
Creators | Persson, Matilda |
Publisher | Umeå universitet, Institutionen för ekologi, miljö och geovetenskap |
Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
Language | Swedish |
Detected Language | English |
Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
Format | application/pdf |
Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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