Because of increased use of fertilizers to feed the increasing global population, the nutrient loads in surface and subsurface water have increased substantially in the last few decades. Many studies have been conducted to investigate the factors affecting nitrate load in surface and subsurface flow. The objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between the various factors affecting nitrate transport using principal component analysis (PCA) and nearest neighborhood analysis methods. Hydrological and biogeochemical data from a small (<500 km2) agricultural watershed in east central Illinois, USA for the duration of 10 years have been used in this study. The PCA approach divided various factors that influence nitrate transport into three principal components. The first component contained air temperature, cover phenotype, evapotranspiration, cover factor and dry mass factors. The second component contained precipitation and flow, which was defined as the hydrologic component. The third component included tillage practices and nitrogen application and was termed the anthropogenic component. The results from the PCA approach suggested all three components had significant influence on nitrate transportation and transformation. Among these three components, the hydrological components had the highest contribution on both surface and subsurface nitrate load. The nearest neighborhood analysis yielded a similar conclusion.
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Research Article|
November 14 2014
Assessment of water quality in Little Vermillion River watershed using principal component and nearest neighbor analyses Available to Purchase
Shiyang Li;
1State Key Lab Urban Water Resource & Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology (SKLUWRE, HIT), P.O. Box 2614, Huanghe Road No. 73, Harbin 150090, China
2Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
E-mail: [email protected]
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Rabin Bhattarai;
Rabin Bhattarai
2Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
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Li Wang;
Li Wang
1State Key Lab Urban Water Resource & Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology (SKLUWRE, HIT), P.O. Box 2614, Huanghe Road No. 73, Harbin 150090, China
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Richard A. Cooke;
Richard A. Cooke
2Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
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Fang Ma;
Fang Ma
1State Key Lab Urban Water Resource & Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology (SKLUWRE, HIT), P.O. Box 2614, Huanghe Road No. 73, Harbin 150090, China
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Prasanta K. Kalita
Prasanta K. Kalita
2Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
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Water Supply (2015) 15 (2): 327–338.
Article history
Received:
July 17 2014
Accepted:
October 31 2014
Citation
Shiyang Li, Rabin Bhattarai, Li Wang, Richard A. Cooke, Fang Ma, Prasanta K. Kalita; Assessment of water quality in Little Vermillion River watershed using principal component and nearest neighbor analyses. Water Supply 1 April 2015; 15 (2): 327–338. doi: https://doi.org/10.2166/ws.2014.117
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