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Open-File Report 2009-1105

Pubs Warehouse

### Prepared in cooperation with the Bureau of Reclamation

## Klamath River Water Quality Data from Link River Dam to Keno Dam, Oregon, 2008

#### By Annett B. Sullivan, Michael L. Deas, Jessica Asbill, Julie D. Kirshtein, Kenna Butler, and Jennifer Vaughn

| ABSTRACT
This report documents sampling and analytical methods and presents field data from a second year of an ongoing study on the Klamath River from Link River Dam to Keno Dam in south central Oregon; this dataset will form the basis of a hydrodynamic and water quality model. Water quality was sampled weekly at six mainstem and two tributary sites from early April through early November, 2008. Constituents reported herein include field-measured water-column parameters (water temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen concentration, specific conductance); total nitrogen and phosphorus; particulate carbon and nitrogen; total iron; filtered orthophosphate, nitrite, nitrite plus nitrate, ammonia, organic carbon, and iron; specific UV absorbance at 254 nanometers; chlorophyll *a*; phytoplankton and zooplankton enumeration and species identification; and bacterial abundance and morphological subgroups. Sampling program results indicated:
- Most nutrient and carbon concentrations were lowest in spring, increased starting in mid-June, remained elevated in the summer, and decreased in fall. Dissolved nitrite plus nitrate had a different seasonal cycle and was below detection or at low concentration in summer.
- Although total nitrogen and total phosphorus concentrations did not show large differences from upstream to downstream, filtered ammonia and orthophosphate concentrations increased in the downstream direction and particulate carbon and particulate nitrogen generally decreased in the downstream direction.
- Large bacterial cells made up most of the bacteria biovolume, though cocci were the most numerous bacteria type. Cocci, with diameters of 0.1 to 0.2 micrometers, were smaller than the filter pore sizes used to separate dissolved from particulate matter.
- Phytoplankton biovolumes were dominated by diatoms in spring and by the blue-green alga  Aphanizomenon flos-aquae  after mid-June. Another blue-green, Anabaena flos-aquae, was noted in samples from late May to late June. Phytoplankton biovolumes generally were highest at the upstream Link River and Railroad Bridge sites and decreased in the downstream direction.
- Zooplankton densities were largest in late April. Populations were dominated by rotifers and copepods in early spring, and by rotifers and cladocerans in summer, with cladocerans most common at the most upstream site. | -  **Report** PDF (572 KB) 
- **Appendixes A-D** (ZIP, 1.3 MB)

**For additional information contact:**        Director, Oregon Water Science Center	  U.S. Geological Survey	  2130 SW 5th Avenue	  Portland, Oregon 97201http://or.water.usgs.gov
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Suggested citation:
Sullivan, A.B., Deas, M.L., Asbill, J., Kirshtein, J.D., Butler, K., and Vaughn, J., 2009, Klamath River water quality data from Link River Dam to Keno Dam, Oregon, 2008: U.S. Geological Survey Open File Report 2009-1105, 25 p.
Contents
Abstract

Introduction

Water Quality Sampling

Water Quality Analytical Methods

Water Quality Data Summary

Acknowledgments

References Cited

Appendixes

AccessibilityFOIAPrivacyPolicies and Notices

U.S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey    URL: *http://    pubsdata.usgs.gov    /pubs/of/2009/1105/index.html*    Page Contact Information: GS Pubs Web Contact    Page Last Modified:    Wednesday, 07-Dec-2016 21:54:36 EST |
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