Modeling the fate and transport of nitrogen and sediment within coastal embayments on St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands

The recent rises in resident and tourist populations on St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands have spurred the construction of new roads and housing developments throughout much of the island. As a result, a number of pollutants, including sediment and nitrogen, are being delivered to the coastal waters around the island at increasing rates and are believed to be having adverse impacts on the health of coral reef ecosystems. Understanding the impacts of increased sediment and nitrogen loads on coral reefs is critical for the protection of these valuable natural resources. In the present study, two mass balance models for sediment and nitrogen were developed to evaluate the impact of watershed development on the water quality of coastal embayments. The sediment model considered inputs by watershed loading and losses by gravitational settling and tidal flushing. The degree of sediment stress inflicted upon each bay was evaluated using three stress metrics. The results of the sediment model agreed with historical turbidity measurements collected by the National Park Service in terms of the relative degree of sediment stress observed in each bay.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2007

Author dc:creator

• Walker, Jeffrey D. (Jeffrey Douglas)

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• E. Eric Adams and Peter Shanahan.

• Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/39253

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/39253