Using GIS for assessing stream water chemistry in a forested watershed

Abstract

Systematic survey preparation and data analysis are required for conducting efficient research on forested mountains because investigating many streams in such an environment is difficult. A methodology of GIS utilization for surveying and analyzing nitrogen leaching in headwaters was demonstrated in this paper. Firstly, support maps for the Tanzawa Mountains, Southern Kanto District, Japan, were created for effective data collection by field surveys. Then, contributions of catchment properties to N-leaching were investigated by spatial analysis using fine-scale terrain data. Finally, N-leaching prediction maps were created for decisionsupport. Keywords: