Geochemistry of the Mattole River in Northern California

Abstract

The chemical composition of streams can vary greatly with changing discharge during storm runoff. These chemical changes are related to the pathways of various water parcels from the time they fall as rain until they enter the stream, and to the interactions between water and sediment during transport downstream. In order to understand better the chemical variations during storms, an extensive investigation was made of the Mattole River, a chemically clean coastal stream in Mendocino County, California. The Mattole drains a topographically mature basin of 620 sw km which has relief of about 1200 m, a long summer dry season, and mean annual rainfall of about 2300 mm. The stream flow is composed of seasonally varying proportions of four flow components, namely, surface runoff, quick-return flow (rainfall having brief and intimate contact with the soil before entering the surface drainage), delayed-return flow, and base runoff. Each component is identified by its characteristic chemistry and by the time delay between rainfall and entrance into the stream. Information is also presented on rain chemistry, adsorption reactions of suspended sediments in the fresh and brackish environments, and compositional variation of river sediments with particle size. (Woodard-USGS)