Date of Award

1-1-2012

Document Type

Campus Access Thesis

Department

Earth and Ocean Sciences

Sub-Department

Earth and Environmental Resources Management

First Advisor

Daniel Tufford

Abstract

The objective of this work is to better quantify hydrologic function between the Four Hole Swamp floodplain and adjacent upland by measuring and mapping shallow water table dynamics and hydrology over a seven month period. To study hydrologic function, shallow wells using two inch PVC were placed along the demarcation of upland and wetland. Six wells were run along the delineation in four parallel pairs; one well was located on the upland side of the ridge and the partnered well was located downslope on the flood plain side of the topographic break. LiDAR® and ArcGIS® software were used to create final water table maps. Each well was visited at least once per month to manually measure water level data and upload water level logger data. This investigation has shown that this research area's groundwater has the potential to range from approximately 19.1m to 17.5m AMSL; the research area contains 10 different soil series, which are mostly well drained; regardless of Mill Run's current ephemeral characteristics its watershed can produce approximately 193,910 m3/year in surface shallow water discharge; the groundwater flow has a slight orientation to the south/southwest. The integration of these data, along with the ecosystem indicators data from the larger University of South Carolina--Clemson University related project provides a science-based understanding of the hydroecology of the study site as well as an understanding of the shallow water subtleties of the Beidler Forest/Four Hole Swamp fringe. This characterization is needed to help guide practicing resource managers with the anticipated mitigation requirements of future development for this site so that the impact on the wetland is minimized.

Rights

© 2012, Jaclyn E Koehn

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