Study Boundary for the U.S. Geological Survey Southeast Stream Quality Assessment
Citation
Qi, S.L., Nakagaki, Naomi, Van Metre, P.C., Clark, J.M., Baker, N.T., Rapp, J.L., Falcone, J.A., Button, D.T., Journey, C.A., and Bell, A.H., 2017, Geospatial Database of the Study Boundary, Sampled Sites, Watersheds, and Riparian Zones for the U.S. Geological Survey Southeast Stream Quality Assessment: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/F75Q4TKG.
Summary
In 2015, the second of several Regional Stream Quality Assessments (RSQA) was done in the southeastern United States. The Southeast Stream Quality Assessment (SESQA) was a study by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Water Quality Assessment (NAWQA) project. One of the objectives of the RSQA, and thus the SESQA, is to characterize the relationships between water-quality stressors and stream ecology and subsequently determine the relative effects of these stressors on aquatic biota within the streams (Van Metre and Journey, 2014). To meet this objective, a framework of fundamental geospatial data was required to develop physical and anthropogenic characteristics of the study region, sampled sites and corresponding watersheds, [...]
Summary
In 2015, the second of several Regional Stream Quality Assessments (RSQA) was done in the southeastern United States. The Southeast Stream Quality Assessment (SESQA) was a study by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Water Quality Assessment (NAWQA) project. One of the objectives of the RSQA, and thus the SESQA, is to characterize the relationships between water-quality stressors and stream ecology and subsequently determine the relative effects of these stressors on aquatic biota within the streams (Van Metre and Journey, 2014). To meet this objective, a framework of fundamental geospatial data was required to develop physical and anthropogenic characteristics of the study region, sampled sites and corresponding watersheds, and riparian zones. This dataset represents the 115 water-chemistry sites sampled for the SESQA, and is one of the four fundamental geospatial data layers that were developed for the Southeast study.
The SESQA spans over 310,000 square kilometers, for the most part crossing six states - Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, and Tennessee. The study area is modified from the aggregate of three Level III Ecoregions (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2013): the Ridge and Valley, Blue Ridge, and Piedmont. Despite these modifications, overall, the final SESQA boundary is representative of the extent of the original ecoregions selected for the study area.
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SESQAStudyBoundary.xml Original FGDC Metadata
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SESQAStudyBoundary.zip
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Purpose
This dataset was developed to define the geographic extent of the SESQA study, and to illustrate the study boundary in cartographic products in published reports and presentations.
