U.S.-South Africa Planning Visit: Determination of Sediment Sources and Transport Pathways Using Multivariate Geochemical Fingerprinting, in Mgeni and Berg Catchments, South Africa

美国-南非计划访问：利用多元地球化学指纹图谱确定南非 Mgeni 和 Berg 流域的沉积物来源和运输路径

• 批准号: 0638948
• 负责人: Jerry Miller
• 金额: $ 1.36万
• 依托单位: Western Carolina University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2007
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2007-03-01 至 2008-02-29
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0638948&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: U.S.; South; Africa; Planning; Visit

Non-point source (NPS) pollution is a leading cause of surface water degradation in most developed countries, including the U.S. Controlling NPS pollutants, such as sediment and nutrients, from widely dispersed source areas has proven to be an extremely difficult and expensive process. The long-term goal of this planning visit is to develop an international, multidisciplinary research program with the South African Water Research Commission (WRC) that results in a better understanding of how to effectively manage NPS pollutants. The planning visit to South Africa will enable us to meet with our collaborators and to visit potential field sites. This visit should allow us to better develop a collaborative research program that can (1) improve upon conceptual and mathematical models of sediment and nutrient delivery to streams and reservoirs over a continuum of spatial scales, ranging from an individual agricultural plot to the entire watershed, (2) develop new, geochemically-based methods of tracking NPS pollutants through watersheds, and (3) evaluate transport and storage of pollutants by biogeochemical cycles during migration. This project will build upon an existing program by the WRC to develop predictive management tools for NPS pollution. Our collaborations will be mutually beneficial as the U.S. team will have the opportunity to utilize WRC's extensive field instrumentation, data, and expertise while providing a different, but complimentary set of approaches to the investigation of sediment and nutrients. We expect that the ensuing program will provide research experiences for undergraduate and graduate students and will result in improved methods of predicting the impact of NPS pollutants on aquatic resources, both in South Africa and the U.S.

非点源污染是包括美国在内的大多数发达国家地表水退化的主要原因。控制广泛分布的源区的非点源污染物（如沉积物和营养物）已被证明是一个极其困难和昂贵的过程。 此次规划访问的长期目标是与南非水研究委员会（WRC）共同制定一项国际性的多学科研究计划，以更好地了解如何有效管理水污染物。 对南非的计划访问将使我们能够与我们的合作者会面，并访问潜在的现场。这次访问将使我们能够更好地开发一个合作研究计划，该计划可以（1）改进从单个农业地块到整个流域的连续空间尺度上沉积物和营养物输送到河流和水库的概念和数学模型，（2）开发新的，基于地球化学的方法通过流域跟踪污染物，（3）利用迁移过程中的地球化学循环评价污染物的迁移和贮存。 该项目将建立在世界资源中心现有的项目基础上，开发可预测的污染管理工具。 我们的合作将是互惠互利的，因为美国团队将有机会利用WRC广泛的现场仪器，数据和专业知识，同时提供一套不同但互补的方法来调查沉积物和营养物。 我们预计，随后的计划将为本科生和研究生提供研究经验，并将导致在南非和美国的水资源预测的水污染物的影响改进的方法。