Evaluating Surface Area-Basin Volume Relationships for Prairie Potholes

Establishing a relationship between surface area and volume of prairie potholes provides a simple method to estimate changes in water storage across the landscape. Applications include better prediction of floods and improved design for wetland restoration. Length, width, depth, surface area, and volumes were surveyed for eighty two potholes within the upper Turtle River watershed which lies sixty kilometers west of Grand Forks, ND. These data were used to determine the relationship and uncertainty between pothole surface and volume. Chi squared tests defined distributions of each variable. F and T statistical tests resolved similarities in variance and mean. The eighty two potholes were separated according to their National Wetlands Inventory (NWI) classification and tested using chi squared. T and F tests on the separate classes verified if the populations have a different mean and variance. Difference in depth, in particular, suggests that the two most common NWI classes PEMC and PEMA in the watershed are separate and distinct, based on the results from discriminant analysis. Despite this conclusion and the fact that PEMC wetlands are physically larger than PEMA wetlands, there is a stronger correlation between surface area and volume when the two classes remain combined. Regression of surface area and volume leads to an equation that can be applied to similar watershed throughout the prairie pothole region.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science (MS)

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Geology

Year

2006

Author dc:creator

• Davis, Mike A.

Contributors dc:contributor

• S.F. Korom

• Potholes--Prairie Pothole Region; Wetland ecology--Prairie Pothole Region; Water--Storage--Prairie Pothole Region; Watershed management--Prairie Pothole Region
• Geology

Repository record dc:identifier

https://commons.und.edu/theses/69

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:commons.und.edu:theses-1068