Hurricanes Affect the Sediment and Environment in Lake Okeechobee

    Authors

    K. R. Jin; N. B. Chang; Z. G. Ji;R. T. James

    Comments

    Authors: contact us about adding a copy of your work at STARS@ucf.edu

    Abbreviated Journal Title

    Crit. Rev. Environ. Sci. Technol.

    Keywords

    Hurricanes impact; Lake Okeechobee; sediment; submerged aquatic; vegetation; LARGE SHALLOW LAKE; SUBTROPICAL LAKE; CULTURAL EUTROPHICATION; FLORIDA; PHOSPHORUS; TRANSPORT; MODEL; USA; RESUSPENSION; Environmental Sciences

    Abstract

    Three hurricanes (Frances and Jeanne in 2004 and Wilma in 2005) passed over Lake Okeechobee causing a number of changes in its sediment and environment. The unconsolidated sediment atop the mud sediments in the central region of the lake became thicker due to the settling and deposition of resuspended sediments after the hurricanes passed. The increased unconsolidated sediment layer was more easily resuspended, and resulted in sustained higher solids and nutrient concentrations and lower light transparency in the water column for more than 4 years after the hurricanes passed. Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne disturbed consolidated sediments to a depth of 7-15 cm from the surface while Hurricane Wilma extended the disturbance to a depth of 25 cm. Concentrations of total suspended solids (TSS) in the water column increased four to sixfold after the hurricanes. The high concentration of TSS was continuous and maintained 2-4 times higher than a normal situation in the lake until present. Hurricanes contributed to a decrease of submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) density from 4-34 g dw/m2 to 0.1-4 g dw/m2 primarily through scouring. SAV recovery was very slow due to the increasing turbidity and reduced light transparency.

    Journal Title

    Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology

    Volume

    41

    Publication Date

    1-1-2011

    Document Type

    Review

    Language

    English

    First Page

    382

    Last Page

    394

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000287494000014

    ISSN

    1064-3389

    Share

    COinS