Analysis of bottom sediment to estimate nonpoint-source phosphorus loads for 1981-96 in Hillsdale Lake, northeast Kansas

Bottom sediment in Hillsdale Lake, northeast Kansas, was analyzed as a means of estimating the annual load of total phosphorus deposited in the lake from nonpoint sources. Topographic, bathymetric, and sediment-core data were used to estimate the total mass of phosphorus in the lake-bottom sediment. Available streamflow and water-quality data were used to compute the mean annual mass of phosphorus (dissolved plus suspended) exiting the lake as well as the mean annual load of phosphorus added to the lake from point sources. A simple mass balance then was used to compute the mean annual load of phosphorus from nonpoint sources. Mean annual sediment deposition from 1981 through 1996 was estimated to be 265 million pounds (120 million kilograms). The total mass of phosphorus in the lake-bottom sediment was estimated to be 924,000 kilograms, with a mean annual load of 62,000 kilograms. The mean annual mass of phosphorus exiting in the lake out-flow was estimated to be about 8,000 kilograms. The mean annual loads of phosphorus added to the lake from point and nonpoint sources were estimated to be 5,000 and 65,000 kilograms, respectively. Thus, the contribution to the total mean annual phosphorus load in Hillsdale Lake from point sources is about 7 percent and from nonpoint sources, about 93 percent.