Playa wetlands are critical resources of the Great Plains, providing a range of ecological functions such as groundwater recharge, surface water storage, wetland habitat, and sediment filtering. As land cover has been converted from native grassland to cropland, playa ecological functions appear to have been dramatically impacted due to increased sediment delivery. This project will incorporate historical data to establish long-term trends in climate (primarily precipitation), watershed and playa land cover, buffer conditions, and playa sedimentation patterns. Previous studies have relied on relatively low-resolution spatial data and have focused primarily on contemporary land cover to establish spatial patterns of sedimentation, without providing any temporal analysis. In addition, playa and watershed boundaries are often difficult to identify. This research project will use an integrated combination of GIS, field, and laboratory techniques to provide a detailed spatial and temporal analysis of playa distribution and sedimentation patterns.
