Date of Award

May 2024

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Geography & Geographic Information Science

First Advisor

Gregory S. Vandeberg

Abstract

The river and lake systems in the United States are essential to commerce and human existence. A study of the water quality of the upper Mississippi River watershed was conducted within Itasca State Park, Minnesota. This research focused on ten lakes within the perimeter and backcountry parts of the State Park. The focus of this research was the water quality between lakes, the water quality compared to anthropogenic features, and water quality compared with the land cover of its watershed. Water samples were collected from July 2022 through May 2023 and analyzed for selected ions, field parameters of temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, specific conductance, and nutrients, such as phosphorus and nitrogen. The analytical results were compared from lake to lake as well as temporally. The study also analyzed the correlations of chemical values to land cover types and distances and to anthropogenic features such as roads and hiking trails. The results of this study found nitrogen levels for the lake basins ranged from non-detectable to 0.8 mg/L. Orthophosphate levels were generally less than 0.2 mg/L in all lakes, except for an isolated sample of 0.27 mg/L. The dataset for field parameters showed the following results: pH had a range of 5.68 to 10.18, specific conductance created two groups with larger lakes recording a range of 260.3-339 mg/L and smaller lakes recording a range of 36.7-202mg/L, temperature in the lakes were consistent as the range spread never exceeded 3 ̊C, and dissolved oxygen had an average level over 10 mg/L except for Deer Park Lake which had an average level of 8.915 mg/L. Land Cover results showed that it was not significantly correlated with water chemistry. Some water quality standards such as temperature and pH were significantly correlated with land cover, but the results did not significantly impact the research questions.

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