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Stephen C. Komor

Publications and source records attributed to Stephen C. Komor.

4 recordsLinked to original sources
USGS2010

Movements of water, solutes, and stable isotopes in the unsaturated zones of two sand plains in the upper Midwest

Four month-long field experiments investigated movements of water and solutes through unsaturated sand plains near Princeton, Minnesota, and Oakes, North Dakota. Atrazine and bromide were applied to bare soils and soils planted with corn. The field plots were irrigated according to local farming practices. At the end of each experiment, unsaturated soils were analyzed for atrazine and bromide concentrations and oxygen and hydrogen isotope compositions of soil water. Most soil water was affected by evaporation but groundwater beneath the plots had no evaporative isotopic signature. Therefore most recharge consisted of water that was unaffected by evaporation. Sources of such water may have included snowmelt, prolonged or high-intensity rainfalls that were not interrupted by periods of drying, and water that moved through preferential flow paths. Preferential flow also was suggested by the detection of atrazine, deethylatrazine, and bromide in groundwater shortly after each application of irrigation water at Princeton and by isolated concentrations of atrazine and bromide in soil well below the main masses of chemicals at Oakes.

Minnesota, North Dakota↗
USGS2001

Ground-water age dating in community wells in Oswego County, New York

Officials in Oswego County, in north-central New York, have been concerned about potential contamination of community wells. Many of these wells are completed in unconfined glacial sand-and-gravel aquifers, although some are finished in till or in the underlying fractured and jointed bedrock of Late Ordovician and Early Silurian ages. Local shallow ground-water flow is affected by the orientation and hydraulic characteristics of the local topography and surficial sediments, whereas deeper regional flow is toward Lake Ontario. Concentrations of chlorofluorocarbons and tritium in water samples from 28 wells in the county were measured in 1999 for ground-water-age dating; results yield recharge dates ranging from about 1955 to 1994. The presence of water older than about 15 years in the sand-and-gravel aquifers differs from previous concepts of recharge sources and ground-water movement that were based on numerical modeling of ground-water flow. Young ground water (1 to 5 years old) probably represents recharge from recent precipitation and seepage from streams, whereas the oldest ground water (more than 40 years old) probably is derived from the fractured bedrock that underlies the glacial sediments or has moved along long flow paths in unconsolidated deposits, or through poorly permeable material. Some sand-and-gravel aquifers in Oswego County contain mixtures of old and young water. Wellhead-protection efforts need to focus on protection of the quality of young water in the sand-and-gravel aquifers because young water is more likely to be contaminated than old water.

Open-File Report↗
USGS1996

Nitrate in groundwater and water sources used by riparian trees in an agricultural watershed: A chemical and isotopic investigation in southern Minnesota

This study evaluates processes that affect nitrate concentrations in groundwater beneath riparian zones in an agricultural watershed. Nitrate pathways in the upper 2 m of groundwater were investigated beneath wooded and grass-shrub riparian zones next to cultivated fields. Because trees can be important components of the overall nitrate pathway in wooded riparian zones, water sources used by riparian trees and possible effects of trees on nitrate concentrations in groundwater were also investigated. Average nitrate concentrations in shallow groundwater beneath the cultivated fields were 5.5 mg/L upgradient of the wooded riparian zone and 3.5 mg/L upgradient of the grass-shrub zone. Shallow groundwater beneath the fields passed through the riparian zones and discharged into streams that had average nitrate concentrations of 8.5 mg/L (as N). Lateral variations of δD values in groundwater showed that mixing among different water sources occurred beneath the riparian zones. In the wooded riparian zone, nitrate concentrations in shallow groundwater were diluted by upwelling, nitrate-poor, deep groundwater. Upwelling deep groundwater contained ammonium with a δ 15 N of 5‰ that upon nitrification and mixing with nitrate in shallow groundwater caused nitrate δ 15 N values in shallow groundwater to decrease by as much as 19.5‰. Stream water penetrated laterally beneath the wooded riparian zone as far as 19 m from the stream's edge and beneath the grass-shrub zone as far as 27 m from the stream's edge. Nitrate concentrations in shallow groundwater immediately upgradient of where it mixed with stream water averaged 0.4 mg/L in the wooded riparian zone and 0.8 mg/L near the grass-shrub riparian zone. Nitrate concentrations increased toward the streams because of mixing with nitrate-rich stream water. Because nitrate concentrations were larger in stream water than shallow groundwater, concentrated nitrate in the streams cannot have come from shallow groundwater at these sites. Water sources of riparian trees were identified by comparing δD values of sap water, soil water, groundwater, and stream water. Soil water was the main water source for trees in the outer 4 to 6 m of one part of the wooded riparian zone and outer 10 m of another part. Groundwater was a significant water source for trees closer to the streams where the water table was less than about 2.1 to 2.7 m below the surface. No evidence was found in the nitrate concentration profiles that trees close to the streams that took up groundwater through their roots also took up nitrate from groundwater. The lack of such evidence is attributed to the nitrate concentration profiles being insufficiently sensitive indicators of nitrate removal by trees.

Minnesota↗