Skip to main content

Research Repository

Advanced Search

All Outputs (27)

Uncovering nitrogen accumulation in a large mixed land-use catchment: Implications for national-scale budget studies and environmental management (2024)
Journal Article
Fan, X., Worrall, F., Baldini, L. M., & Burt, T. P. (2024). Uncovering nitrogen accumulation in a large mixed land-use catchment: Implications for national-scale budget studies and environmental management. CATENA, 246, Article 108366. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2024.108366

Accurately quantifying the location and extent of nitrogen accumulation is crucial for mitigating its severe impacts on climate and the environment. Here we estimated a spatial total N budget and its input/output fluxes from different land uses on a... Read More about Uncovering nitrogen accumulation in a large mixed land-use catchment: Implications for national-scale budget studies and environmental management.

Chemical Oxygen Demand as a Measure of Fluvial Organic Matter Oxidation State (2023)
Journal Article
Worrall, F., Clay, G. D., Howden, N. J. K., & Burt, T. P. (2023). Chemical Oxygen Demand as a Measure of Fluvial Organic Matter Oxidation State. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, 128(10), Article e2022JG007248. https://doi.org/10.1029/2022jg007248

The oxidative ratio (OR) of the terrestrial biosphere is directly related to the size of the terrestrial biosphere carbon sink. In turn, OR of naturally occurring organic matter can be directly related to the oxidation state of the carbon in naturall... Read More about Chemical Oxygen Demand as a Measure of Fluvial Organic Matter Oxidation State.

Slopes: solute processes and landforms (2022)
Journal Article
Burt, T., Pinay, G., Worrall, F., & Howden, N. (2022). Slopes: solute processes and landforms. Memoirs, 58(1), 191-204. https://doi.org/10.1144/m58-2021-5

This chapter reviews research on solutes by fluvial geomorphologists in the period 1965–2000; growing links with biogeochemical research are emphasized later in the chapter. Brief reference is necessarily made to some research from before and after t... Read More about Slopes: solute processes and landforms.

Constraining the Carbon Budget of Peat Ecosystems: Application of Stoichiometry and Enthalpy Balances (2022)
Journal Article
Worrall, F., Boothroyd, I. M., Clay, G. D., Moody, C. S., Heckman, K., Burt, T. P., & Rose, R. (2022). Constraining the Carbon Budget of Peat Ecosystems: Application of Stoichiometry and Enthalpy Balances. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, 127(10), https://doi.org/10.1029/2022jg007003

We consider how the stoichiometry and energy content of organic matter reservoirs and fluxes through and from a peatland enable the fluxes and storage of carbon within a peatland to be constrained. We include the elemental composition of the above- a... Read More about Constraining the Carbon Budget of Peat Ecosystems: Application of Stoichiometry and Enthalpy Balances.

Is water quality in British rivers “better than at any time since the end of the Industrial Revolution”? (2022)
Journal Article
Whelan, M., Linstead, C., Worrall, F., Ormerod, S., Durance, I., Johnson, A., …Tickner, D. (2022). Is water quality in British rivers “better than at any time since the end of the Industrial Revolution”?. Science of the Total Environment, 843, Article 157014. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.157014

We explore the oft-repeated claim that river water quality in Great Britain is “better now than at any time since the Industrial Revolution”. We review available data and ancillary evidence for seven different categories of water pollutants: (i) bioc... Read More about Is water quality in British rivers “better than at any time since the end of the Industrial Revolution”?.

A 50‐Year Record Of Nitrate Concentrations In The Slapton Ley Catchment, Devon, United Kingdom (2021)
Journal Article
Burt, T., Worrall, F., Howden, N., Jarvie, H., Pratt, A., & Hutchinson, T. (2021). A 50‐Year Record Of Nitrate Concentrations In The Slapton Ley Catchment, Devon, United Kingdom. Hydrological Processes, 35(1), Article e13955. https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.13955

Slapton Ley, a coastal lake, is the largest natural body of fresh water in south‐west England. There was concern in the 1960s that the lake was becoming increasingly eutrophic. To quantify inputs of water, sediment and nutrients into the lake, Slapto... Read More about A 50‐Year Record Of Nitrate Concentrations In The Slapton Ley Catchment, Devon, United Kingdom.

The problem of underpowered rivers (2020)
Journal Article
Worrall, F., Burt, T. P., Hancock, G. R., Howden, N. J., & Wainwright, J. (2020). The problem of underpowered rivers. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 45(15), 3869-3878. https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.5007

This study has hypothesized that for many rivers the trade‐off between flow accumulation and the decrease in slope along channel length means that stream power increases downstream and, moreover, that given the low slope angles in headwater and low‐o... Read More about The problem of underpowered rivers.

A spatial total nitrogen budget for Great Britain (2020)
Journal Article
Fan, X., Worrall, F., Baldini, L. M., & Burt, T. P. (2020). A spatial total nitrogen budget for Great Britain. Science of the Total Environment, 728, Article 138864. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138864

Understanding nutrient budgets makes it possible to predict where and by how much nutrients are accumulating in the environment. Previous studies have considered this problem for nitrogen (N) but have limited themselves to reactive N species (i.e. ex... Read More about A spatial total nitrogen budget for Great Britain.

The importance of sewage effluent discharge in the export of dissolved organic carbon from United Kingdom rivers (2019)
Journal Article
Worrall, F., Howden, N. J., Burt, T. P., & Bartlett, R. (2019). The importance of sewage effluent discharge in the export of dissolved organic carbon from United Kingdom rivers. Hydrological Processes, 33(13), 1851-1864. https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.13442

The flux of fluvial carbon from the terrestrial biosphere to the world's oceans is known to be an important component of the global carbon cycle but within this pathway the flux and return of carbon to the river network via sewage effluent has not be... Read More about The importance of sewage effluent discharge in the export of dissolved organic carbon from United Kingdom rivers.

A Molecular Budget for a Peatland Based Upon 13C Solid‐State Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (2018)
Journal Article
Moody, C. S., Worrall, F., Clay, G. D., Burt, T. P., Apperley, D. C., & Rose, R. (2018). A Molecular Budget for a Peatland Based Upon 13C Solid‐State Nuclear Magnetic Resonance. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, 123(2), 547-560. https://doi.org/10.1002/2017jg004312

Peatlands can accumulate organic matter into long‐term carbon (C) storage within the soil profile. This study used solid‐state 13C nuclear magnetic resonance (13C‐NMR) to investigate the transit of organic C through a peatland ecosystem to understand... Read More about A Molecular Budget for a Peatland Based Upon 13C Solid‐State Nuclear Magnetic Resonance.

The fate of suspended sediment and particulate organic carbon in transit through the channels of a river catchment (2017)
Journal Article
Worrall, F., Burt, T. P., Howden, N. J., Hancock, G. R., & Wainwright, J. (2018). The fate of suspended sediment and particulate organic carbon in transit through the channels of a river catchment. Hydrological Processes, 32(1), 146-159. https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.11413

Particulate organic matter (POM) transiting through rivers could be lost to overbank storage, stored in‐channel, added to by erosion or autochthonous production, or turned over to release greenhouse gases to the atmosphere (either while in the water... Read More about The fate of suspended sediment and particulate organic carbon in transit through the channels of a river catchment.

Declines in the dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentration and flux from the UK (2017)
Journal Article
Worrall, F., Howden, N. J., Burt, T. P., & Bartlett, R. (2018). Declines in the dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentration and flux from the UK. Journal of Hydrology, 556, 775-789. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2017.12.001

Increased concentrations of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) have been reported for many catchments across the northern hemisphere. Hypotheses to explain the increase have varied (eg. increasing air temperature or recovery from acidification) but one t... Read More about Declines in the dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentration and flux from the UK.

Shifts in discharge-concentration relationships as a small catchment recover from severe drought (2014)
Journal Article
Burt, T., Worrall, F., Howden, N., & Anderson, M. (2015). Shifts in discharge-concentration relationships as a small catchment recover from severe drought. Hydrological Processes, 29(4), 498-507. https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.10169

This paper provides evidence of the recovery of a small, moorland catchment to a severe drought, the most extreme on record in the UK. We present a detailed water quality time series for the post-drought recovery period, from the first significant st... Read More about Shifts in discharge-concentration relationships as a small catchment recover from severe drought.

Change in runoff initiation probability over a severe drought in a peat soil – Implications for flowpaths. (2007)
Journal Article
Worrall, F., Burt, T., & Adamson, J. (2007). Change in runoff initiation probability over a severe drought in a peat soil – Implications for flowpaths. Journal of Hydrology, 345(1-2), 16-26. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2007.07.008

Severe drying of soils can lead to cracking and thus the generation of new hydrological pathways. In soils that show hydrophobic behaviour upon drying, it is possible that such flowpaths survive beyond the period of the drought that caused the initia... Read More about Change in runoff initiation probability over a severe drought in a peat soil – Implications for flowpaths..