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Research about Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi

Source-linked reports with geographic coverage including Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

Nutrient mass balance and trends, Mobile River Basin, Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi

A nutrient mass balance - accounting for nutrient inputs from atmospheric deposition, fertilizer, crop nitrogen fixation, and point source effluents; and nutrient outputs, including crop harvest and storage - was calculated for 18 subbasins in the Mobile River Basin, and trends (1970 to 1997) were evaluated as part of the U.S. Geological Survey National Water Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program. Agricultural nonpoint nitrogen and phosphorus sources and urban nonpoint nitrogen sources are the most important factors associated with nutrients in this system. More than 30 percent of nitrogen yield in two basins and phosphorus yield in eight basins can be attributed to urban point source nutrient inputs. The total nitrogen yield (1.3 tons per square mile per year) for the Tombigbee River, which drains a greater percentage of agricultural (row crop) land use, was larger than the total nitrogen yield (0.99 tons per square mile per year) for the Alabama River. Decreasing trends of total nitrogen concentrations in the Tombigbee and Alabama Rivers indicate that a reduction occurred from 1975 to 1997 in the nitrogen contributions to Mobile Bay from the Mobile River. Nitrogen concentrations also decreased (1980 to 1995) in the Black Warrior River, one of the major tributaries to the Tombigbee River. Total phosphorus concentrations increased from 1970 to 1996 at three urban influenced sites on the Etowah River in Georgia. Multiple regression analysis indicates a distinct association between water quality in the streams of the Mobile River drainage basin and agricultural activities in the basin.

Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi↗

Floods of April 1979, Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia

A major storm April 11-13, 1979, following a series of storms in March and April, brought large amounts of rainfall over southeastern United States. Heaviest rain fell over north-central Mississippi and Alabama. A maximum of 21.5 inches was observed at Louisville, 14 SE, Mississippi. Floods in Mississippi and Alabama were the maximum of record at 60 streamflow gaging stations in the Coosa, Alabama, Tombigbee, Chickasawhay, Pearl, and Big Black River basins. On the Pearl River, peak discharges at main stem gaging stations generally approached or exceeded those of the great flood of 1874, and recurrence intervals generally were greater than 100 years. Nine lives were reported lost. Estimated damages totaled nearly $400 million. Seventeen thousand people were driven from their homes in Jackson, Mississippi. This report presents analyses of the meterological settings of the storms, summaries of flood stages and discharges at 221 streamflow gaging stations, stages and contents of 10 reservoirs, flood-crest stages and hydrograph data consisting of gage height, discharge, and accumulated runoff at selected times, at 46 gaging stations, groundwater fluctuations in 11 observation wells, and water salinity and temperature at 22 sites along the Intracoastal Waterway in Mobile Bay. (USGS)

Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi↗

Altitude of the freshwater-saltwater interface in a regionally extensive coastal plain aquifer of Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia

Geophysical well logs from over 150 oil test and water wells in Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia were examined and calculations of the dissolved solids concentration in ground water were made using the spontaneous potential deflection as a measure of ionic activity. The values derived from these calculations were used to prepare a map showing the altitude relative to sea level at which the concentration of dissolved solids in the groundwater reached 10,000 mg/L within a regionally extensive aquifer in Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia. A dissolved solids concentration of 10,000 mg/L is used to delineate the interface between moderately saline and saline water; 10,000 mg/L dissolved solids was designated to delineate the freshwater-saltwater interface. For a finite difference computer flow model being used this interface represents the location where horizontal flow of freshwater is greatly diminished. 10 ,000 mg/L also is the lower limit for dissolved solids concentrations for water in target zones for injection wells. This 10,000 mg/L dissolved solids line is of value as a water quality indicator; although water containing 3,000 to 10,000 mg/L or more of dissolved solids is too saline for agricultural use (upper limit approximately 3,000 mg/L), it may be useful for some industrial purposes. Waters containing dissolved solids concentrations > 10,000 mg/L have little potential for any use involving human activities. (Lantz-PTT)

Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi↗