General Overview

Dataset Title: Alkalinity Titrations for Ponil Creek Watershed New Mexico


Creator: Hansen, Cassandra


Date: 2016-05-02


Method: I collected 54 water samples from the three branches of the Ponil Creek and preformed titrations to measure alkalinity in mg/L as CaCO3. Each sample was collected in a 250 mL plastic bottle with no headspace, although 100mL was used in the actual titration. Alkalinity titrations were performed with a Thermo Scientific Orion Star pH/Conductivity Meter and Hach Digital Titrator to deliver 0.00125 mL/digit of 1.60 M Sulfuric Acid. Orion Star has been used in similar studies (Melzer, Knapp, Kirkman, Smith, & Blair, 2010) and the samples were titrated within 12 hours in field (as opposed to a lab) for accuracy (Quade, English, & DeCelles, 2003). The creek name, location name, date, time collected, UTMs (Universal Transverse Mercator location), temperature of water, specific conductance, time analyzed, sulfuric acid concentration, titration data (pH and clicks), and photos were recorded for each sample. Then the USGS Alkalinity Calculator was used to determine the concentration of CaCO3 for each sample (USGS, 2013). These alkalinity titrations will provide the chemical concentration for the weathering flux calculation.

Processing: Data was manually entered from field notebook into an Excel spreadsheet and entered into the USGS Alkalinity calculator (http://or.water.usgs.gov/alk/) for final concentration



Source: No external data sources are referenced.


Funder: No funding was provided. Equipment provided by Katja Meyer of Willamette EES Department


Thesis Title: Controls on Weathering in the Ponil Creek Watershed, New Mexico




Content Description

Subject: Alkalinity titrations and chemical weathering fluxes for Ponil Creek Watershed New Mexico


Place: Data was collected in Cimarron, New Mexico in the Ponil Creek Watershed. See UTM coordinates in excel for sample locations.


Variable List and Codes: 


Variables:

Sample ID: Simplistic way to refer to specific samples, numbered in order of collection. Each sample was taken in a 250 mL Nalgene bottle and was filled up and emptied twice before the sample was taken. The cap of the bottle was put on under water to prevent any air from remaining in the bottle, there was no head space. 									
River: Refers to the branch of the Ponil Creek of the study site. There are three branches the North, Middle, and South Ponil and once they all connect it is simply referred to as Ponil Creek. 									
Location: A common name for the location if it has one, otherwise made up name for sampling convenience. Shorthand's include TA = Turnaround, X = cross, and XC = stream crossing, N = North, S = South, M= Middle, IW = Indian Writings, Metcalf = Old Camp on maps prior to 2014 		
							
Date: Given in short hand the first digit being the month (6=June, 7=July, 8=August) and the next two digits being the day of the month. All samples were taken in 2015 between June 18th and August 12th, 2015.									
Time taken: All times are in MDT (Mountain Daylight Time) UTC/GMT -6 hours and were recorded at the time the water sample was physically bottled at the Creek. 									
UTM: Given in UTM coordinates using a DeLorme Earthmate PN-40 GPS set to UTM/UPS Coordinates in the 13S region, given in (Easting's, Northings). The first digit for all Easting's in the study area is "0" and therefore only the last six of the seven numbers of the Easting's coordinates were recorded. All coordinates were set as waypoints to ensure accuracy of UTM data. 									
Temperature:  Temperature of the Creek at time of sampling taken by using a Thermo Scientific Orion Star A325 pH/Conductivity Meter with the 013010MD Conductivity Cell attachment. Conductivity Cell was placed in the Creek at time of sample to take the Temperature. All temperatures recorded in degrees Celsius				
					
Specific Conductance: Conductivity of the Creek at time of sampling taken by using a Thermo Scientific Orion Star A325 pH/Conductivity Meter with the 013010MD Conductivity Cell attachment The Conductivity Cell was calibrated with 1412 ?s/cm Conductivity/TDS Standard. Conductivity Cell was placed in the Creek at time of sample to take the Conductivity. 									
Time analyzed: Time that the alkalinity titration was preformed later on the same day as "Date" the day that the sample was taken. 									
Sulfuric Acid Concentration: The Sulfuric Acid used was a HACH Company Digital Titration Cartridge with the concentration of 1.600 0.008 N, Cat. 14389-01 Lot. A5105 (Exp. Dec.16)									
Titration Data: Titrations were completed the same day as the sample was taken. A magnetic stirring system was used. Only 100 mL of the 250mL sample was titrated measured using a graduated cylinder. The HACH Digital Titrator was used to deliver 0.00125 mL/digit of Sulfuric Acid. 
									
pH: pH was measured using a Thermo Scientific Orion Star A325 pH/Conductivity Meter with the Orion 8107UWMMD ROSS Ultra pH/ATC Triode. It was calibrated using pH 4,7, and 10 buffers before each round of samples was titrated. 									
Clicks: Clicks of Sulfuric acid delivered during the course of the titration, the HACH Digital Titrator was used to deliver 0.00125 mL/digit of Sulfuric Acid. 									
mg/L of CaCO3: Using the USGS Web Based Alkalinity Calculator Version 2.22 Oregon Water Science Center (http://or.water.usgs.gov/alk/) the Sample Temperature in C, Specific Conductance in ?s/cm, Sample Volume 100mL, Filtered Sample?: No, Acid Concentration 1.60 N, Stirring Method: magnetic, Titration Type: Digital Titrator, Titration Data (pH in 1st column, titrant in 2nd) was entered into the calculator to receive the Inflection point method of mg/L of CaCO3. Note the alkalinity does not measure an actual mass per volume but the amount of calcium carbonate dissolved in water that it would take to equal the alkalinity of the solution. 	
								
Photo: Taken by an iPhone 5 at the sample site at the time of sample collection. 									
Technical Description
File structure: CJH Thesis Field Research.xlsx - The original Microsoft Excel spreadsheet with all subsequent files arranged in order: 
   
File #1  AllData.cvs; 
File #2 - WeatheringFlux.cvs; 
File #3 - LatLong; 
File #4  PaperFluxes.cvs;
File #5  upstreamdownstream.cvs; 
File #6  Flood.cvs; 
File #7  Fire.cvs;
File #8  USGSFlood.cvs

Necessary software: Excel 98 or more recent is needed to view and access the CJH Thesis Field Research.xlsx file.  Files are tab separated csv files, originally created in Microsoft Excel. Files should also be readable in any basic text editor such as Notepad, Open Office, TextEdit etc.  The original Microsoft Excel document is also included along with the other files. 

Access Rights: This data is freely available for re-use. Please acknowledge Cassandra Hansen in any publications that use this data.

Other Notes: No other notes are needed.
