Trace Elements in the Aquatic Environment of Hawaii: Effects of Urbanization

摘要

The goals of this study are to determine spatial and temporal trends in waterquality in the watershed, to quantify storm-driven material fluxes to the ocean and elucidate natural and anthropogenic trace element contributions therein. In small subtropical island watersheds, material inputs to the ocean are dominated by freshwater pulses associated with intense but often abrupt orographic rainstorms. The rugged topography and high rainfall intensity typical of the main Hawaiian Islands results in rapidly changing hydrographic conditions that present an opportunity to study the spatial and temporal evolution of material as it travels through the watershed to the ocean. Because the island of Oahu, and Honolulu in particular, have been extensively urbanized during the second half of the 20th century, transport of suspended particulate matter (SPM) during storms represents an important vehicle for the mobilization of anthropogenic material deposited throughout the watersheds during the past half century.