Abstract Introduction Study Area Coring & Pore Water Extraction Analytical Methods Results & Discussion Summary Acknowledgments References PDF Version

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Figure 1. Map of south Florida showing the sampling locations in the Water Conservation Areas (WCA 1A, 2A, and 3A), Everglades National Park (ENP), and Big Cypress National Preserve (BC) during 1994 and 1995.

Coring sites for pore water studies were chosen based on the objectives of this project and on the recommendations of federal and state land and water management agencies located in south Florida. Wherever possible, sites already established by other agencies (state and federal) were sampled in order to maximize interagency comparison of data. Our sites (Table 1 and Fig. 1) comprise a general north-south transect in the eastern Everglades, including sites in WCA 1A (Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge), 2A, 3A, and 3B, and Everglades National Park. Separate cores for studies of peat geochemistry were also obtained at all of these sites (reports in preparation). Surface water samples were collected prior to any coring in clean polyethylene bottles. Additional surface water samples were collected at 10 other sites (mostly in Big Cypress National Preserve) where pore water was not collected (Table 1 and Fig. 1). Bottles were rinsed several times with surface water, and a sample was collected by submerging the capped bottle to about 30 cm above the peat surface, slowly opening the bottle, and completely filling and recapping it underwater.

In WCA 1A, cores for pore water studies were collected at two locations along a transect established by the Environmental Protection Agency (a site near the Hillsboro Canal and a site in the center of area 1A). Cores in WCA 2A were collected at South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) "Threshold Study Sites", including phosphorus-impacted areas near the Hillsboro Canal dominated by cattails, Typha sp. (sites E1 and F1), and a site near the center of WCA 2A with little phosphorus contamination and dominated by sawgrass, Cladium jamaicense (site U3). In WCA 3A we selected three coring sites for pore water studies, one at the northern edge that is frequently dry at the surface (hydrostation #3), a location in the center of area 3A south of Alligator Alley dominated by sawgrass (hydrostation #15), and a site at the southern extreme of area 3B just north of the Tamiami Trail also dominated by sawgrass and with a marl layer in the peat profile (site TT). Sites cored in Everglades National Park included Grossmans Hammock in the northeastern area of the park where short sawgrass in thin peat overlies karstic limestone bedrock, Pa-Hay-Okee Lookout at the eastern edge of the Shark River Slough with dominant sawgrass vegetation, and a site along Taylor Creek with brackish water and short red mangrove trees, Rhizophora mangle.