Hydrogeochemical controls on brook trout spawning habitats in a coastal stream

Briggs, Martin A.; Harvey, Judson W.; Hurley, Stephen T.; Rosenberry, Donald O.; McCobb, Timothy; Werkema, Dale; Lane Jr., John W.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-6383-2018

Articles | Volume 22, issue 12

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-6383-2018

© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-6383-2018

© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 22, issue 12

Research article

|

10 Dec 2018

Research article |

| 10 Dec 2018

Hydrogeochemical controls on brook trout spawning habitats in a coastal stream

Martin A. Briggs, Judson W. Harvey, Stephen T. Hurley, Donald O. Rosenberry, Timothy McCobb, Dale Werkema, and John W. Lane Jr.

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-6383-2018-supplement

Data sets

Temperature and geophysical data collected along the Quashnet River, Mashpee/Falmouth MA M. A. Briggs, C. R. Scruggs, S. T. Hurley, and E. A. White https://doi.org/10.5066/F7PN93QF

Surface water and groundwater water chemistry data collected along the Quashnet River, Mashpee/Falmouth, MA J. W. Harvey, M. A. Briggs, B. Buskirk, A., Swartz, J. Lewis, and Y. Du https://doi.org/10.5066/F7M044MF

Short summary

Brook trout are known to seek out groundwater-discharge zones for spawning. However, in a groundwater-dominated system, we observed trout using a few locations for repeatedly laying eggs. To improve the management of this cold-water species, we wanted to know why these specific groundwater-discharge zones were desirable. Through a combination of geophysical and chemical measurements, we found that locations where the stream intersects the sandy valley wall create oxygen-rich seepage zones.