The downstream effects of dam removal on the distribution of nutrients and sediments.

Abstract

In this study we analyze the potential affects a dam removal can have on erosion and chemical composition of a preexisting body of water. Majority of nutrients before removal are stored in lake’s benthos (Perrin et al., 2000; Stanley and Doyle, 2003). With the dam removed, the upstream sediment becomes exposed and complex biogeochemical reactions begin. Sediments become oxidized, mobilizing metals to bind with certain species (de Carvalho et al., 1998) and confine phosphate (Kleeberg and Heidenreich, 2004). Nitrogen in the sediment may then be mineralized, nitrified (Sparling and Ross, 1988), leached (Perrin et al., 2000), or denitrified (Kern et al., 1996). Thus, the reason predicting the environmental cost from dam removal to be complex. Our study measured and collected substrate levels, sediment compositions, and varied environmental components in both bodies of water to be later referenced in future studies about the affects dam removal have on aquatic ecosystems.