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Characteristics of Precipitation, Streamflow, and Sediment Transport of the Hangman Creek in the Pacific Northwest USA: Implication for Agricultural Conservation Practice Implementation

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Submitted:

29 November 2024

Posted:

29 November 2024

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Abstract
Anthropogenic climate change and changes to land use and land management practices can have significant impacts on streamflow and sediment transport. In this study, we investigated long-term precipitation, streamflow and suspended sediment load patterns within the Hangman Creek watershed, draining from the Rocky Mountains in Idaho to Washington, to identify the magnitude of changes with the goal of better understanding the links between these processes and the potential effects of agricultural conservation practices (ACPs) implemented since the 1990s. Comparing study periods of 1991 to 2020 with 1961 to 1990, 1991 to 2020 had lower streamflow/precipitation ratios in the highest flow months such as February and March. Most streamflow occurred during winter and spring, so does suspended sediment. In addition, 2018 had much lower suspended sediment load compared to earlier years (1999 and 2000) during high flow seasons (January to May) given that streamflow was higher in 2018 than in 1999 and 2000. These changes may be attributed to adoption of agricultural conservation practices because land cover remained almost unchanged from 2001 to 2021 and ACP adoption increased. Finally, flow frequency analysis showed a strong linkage between higher streamflow events and increased suspended sediment load, with between 81% and 96% of total annual suspended sediment loads transported during the highest 10% of flows.
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Subject: Environmental and Earth Sciences  -   Water Science and Technology
Copyright: This open access article is published under a Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license, which permit the free download, distribution, and reuse, provided that the author and preprint are cited in any reuse.
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