Date of Award

Summer 1972

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Ocean & Earth Sciences

Program/Concentration

Oceanography

Committee Director

Donald Adams

Committee Member

Ronald E. Johnson

Call Number for Print

Special Collections LD4331.O35 M75

Abstract

The Lafayette River, an Urban, well-mixed estuarine embayment, was sampled from October, 1970 to January, 1972 for phosphate, nitrate, nitrite, oxygen, water temperature and salinity. The mean values found for these samples were: oxygen saturation from 69% to 106% nitrate from 0 to 4 microgram-atoms per liter, and salinity from 13 ‰ to 24 ‰. The mouth of the Elizabeth River to Hampton Roads as also sampled from May, 1971 to August, 1971. The Lafayette and Elizabeth Rivers were also sampled over a 24 hour period in the summer of 1971 and the Lafayette River again in the winter of 1972. The mean concentration of phosphate in the summer varied from 3 to 16 microgram-atoms per liter for the Lafayette River and from 2 to 12 microgram-atoms per liter for the Elizabeth River. The highest values of phosphate occurred in the summer months and the lowest in the winter. The mean concentration of phosphate for the Elizabeth River ranged from 3 to 5.7 microgram-atoms per liter with the highest value in June, 1971. The mean concentration of phosphate for the Lafayette River ranged from 1.9 to 8.6 microgram-atoms per liter with the highest value in August, 1971.

Multiple linear regression models revealed that the daily concentration of phosphate is related to the stage of the tide, and rate of flow of phosphate from the Lamberts Point sewage outfall as follows:

  1. The concentration of phosphate increases on the ebb tide and decreases on the flood tide because of the diluting effect of the Hamptons Roads water.
  2. The concentration of phosphate is also directly related to the rate of flow of phosphate from the Lamberts Point sewage outfall on the flood tide but quantitively is not as important as the diluting effects of the Hampton Roads water. Seasonal multiple linear regression models show a direct relation of temperature to the concentration of phosphate and an indirect relation with the amount of rainfall. The effect or temperature was ascribed to increased biological activity and tbs effect of rainfall to the dilution of the water ln the Lafayette River.

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DOI

10.25777/0e93-sx75

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