Inland surface water: Chapter 18

General Technical Report NRS-80
By: , and 

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Abstract

Freshwater aquatic ecosystems include rivers and streams, large and small lakes, reservoirs, and ephemeral ponds. Wetlands are defi ned and discussed in Chapter 17 of this report. It is estimated that there are 123,400 lakes with a surface area greater than 4 ha in the United States. Most lakes, however, are smaller than 4 ha; small lakes account for the majority of lake surface area both globally and in the United States (Table 18.1; Downing et al. 2006). Th e density of lakes varies greatly by region of the country, from 8.4 lakes per 100 km2 in the upper Midwest and 7.8 lakes per 100 km2 in Florida, to much lower values in other areas of the country (e.g., mid-Atlantic, Southeast, and West <1.0 lakes per 100 km2 ) ( Eilers and Selle 1991). Th e cumulative surface area of these lakes is approximately 9.5 million ha. Th e U.S. Geologic Survey's National Hydrographic Dataset (NHD) estimates that there are approximately 1.1 million km of perennial fl owing streams in the United States. Of these about 91 percent are fi rst through fourth order (“wadeable”) (US EPA 2006).

Publication type Report
Publication Subtype Federal Government Series
Title Inland surface water: Chapter 18
Series title General Technical Report
Series number NRS-80
Year Published 2011
Language English
Publisher U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northern Research Station
Contributing office(s) Fort Collins Science Center
Description 19 p.
Larger Work Type Report
Larger Work Subtype Federal Government Series
Larger Work Title Assessment of N deposition effects and empirical critical loads of N for ecoregions of the United States
First page 209
Last page 227
Online Only (Y/N) N
Additional Online Files (Y/N) N
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