{"title":"Black Warrior River NEON - United States of America","id":{"prefix":"https:\/\/deims.org\/","suffix":"afc73ef8-d5fc-477e-8c05-d98cb671ce76"},"type":"site","created":"2020-05-25T09:36:50+02:00","changed":"2025-09-19T09:27:06+02:00","attributes":{"affiliation":{"networks":[{"network":{"name":"GERI","id":{"prefix":"https:\/\/deims.org\/networks\/","suffix":"c3abdc60-49f1-49db-81fe-863b7dbb21d3"}},"siteCode":null,"verified":true},{"network":{"name":"NEON","id":{"prefix":"https:\/\/deims.org\/networks\/","suffix":"fd9fbc88-0baa-4d02-b824-dc29f721782c"}},"siteCode":"BLWA","verified":true}],"projects":null},"contact":{"siteManager":[{"type":"person","name":"David Mitchell","email":"dmitchell@battelleecology.org","orcid":null}],"operatingOrganisation":null,"metadataProvider":[{"type":"person","name":"Melissa Marquez","email":"marquez@battelleecology.org","orcid":null}],"fundingAgency":null,"siteUrl":[{"title":null,"value":"https:\/\/www.neonscience.org\/field-sites\/blwa"}]},"general":{"abstract":"The Black Warrior River site (BLWA) is an aquatic site on the Black Warrior River in west-central Alabama. The site sits in the lower extent of the river\u2019s 16,160 km2 (nearly 4 million acre) watershed, 11 km upriver from its confluence with the Tombigbee River. As a navigable river, it is managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; the property used to access BLWA is privately owned. The site is forested, and the topography is flat with shallow depressions. The river is impacted by a series of locks and dams, coal-fired steam power plants, and urban and agricultural use. BLWA is part of NEON\u0027s Ozarks Complex Domain (D08). D08 includes 2 other aquatic field sites and 3 terrestrial field sites. BLWA is colocated with the terrestrial site at Dead Lake (DELA).","citation":null,"relatedIdentifiers":null,"status":{"label":"Operational","uri":"http:\/\/vocabs.lter-europe.net\/elter_cl\/10772"},"yearEstablished":2017,"yearClosed":null,"relatedSites":[{"typeOfRelationship":{"label":"groups with","uri":"null"},"listOfSites":[{"type":"site","title":"Dead Lake NEON - United States of America","id":{"prefix":"https:\/\/deims.org\/","suffix":"d08e33e3-c000-4572-87fd-553cf5296459"},"changed":"2025-09-17T13:55:06+0200"}]}],"siteName":"Black Warrior River NEON","shortName":"BLWA","siteType":"Non-stationary land-based site","protectionLevel":null,"landUse":null,"images":[{"url":"https:\/\/deims.org\/sites\/default\/files\/2020-06\/48751535837_b1d9427e55_b.jpg","alt":"BLWA (c) Jamie Galloway"},{"url":"https:\/\/deims.org\/sites\/default\/files\/2020-06\/48751018578_a450ca6e36_b.jpg","alt":"BLWA buoy"}]},"environmentalCharacteristics":{"airTemperature":{"yearlyAverage":17.6,"monthlyAverage":null,"unit":"\u00b0C","referencePeriod":null},"precipitation":{"yearlyAverage":1372,"monthlyAverage":null,"unit":"mm","referencePeriod":null},"biogeographicalRegion":null,"biome":"freshwater_rivers","ecosystemType":[{"label":"Fresh Water Rivers","uri":null},{"label":"Rivers","uri":null}],"eunisHabitat":null,"landforms":null,"geoBonBiome":["Fresh water rivers"],"geology":"The Black Warrior River has a meandering channel with geomorphological features including oxbow lakes, flood plain steps, and steam terraces. The river is located in the Southern Coastal Plain, an area bounded by an erosional scarp from the Atlantic shoreline during the Mesozoic; the region was exposed and submerged below sea level several times, leaving marine deposits of sand and carbonates as well as riverine deposits of clay, silt, sand, and gravel. At the BLWA site, there are Quartenary-aged alluvial, coastal, and terrace deposits. Upstream alluvial deposits are primarily sourced from the Cretaceous Eutaw and Tuscaloosa formations.","hydrology":"The Black Warrior River begins at the confluence of the Locust, Mulberry, and Sipsey Forks in northern Alabama and ends at its confluence with the Tombigbee River near Demopolis, AL. The river drains from a 16,160 km2 (nearly 4 million acre) watershed, or 12.2% of Alabama\u2019s land area. The river is managed as an inland waterway with a system of locks and dams that significantly reduces the flow in the river, creating a series of lentic environments in the river, reducing lateral connectivity between the river channel and its floodplain and off-channel areas, and resulting in high discharge pulses at BLWA. The streams in the lower section of the watershed are generally glide\/pool, low gradient, and habitat poor. Streams in the northern section of the lower Black Warrior watershed flow year round due to sand and gravel aquifers in the area; whereas, streams in the southern section will usually go dry or flow will become quite low. The watershed is subject to major precipitation pulses from tropical storms and hurricanes. These major events affect nutrient and organic matter flux, sediment transport, and biota along the gradient as they propagate downstream.","soils":"BLWA is located in the Blackland Prairie or \u0022Blackbelt,\u0022 an area known for its nutrient-rich, dark soil. These soils are primarily clays and loam that weather into nutrient rich soils that can bake in the summer and become adhesive when wet. Major soil series at DELA, the colocated terrestrial NEON site, include Angie and Leaf, with lesser areas of Cahaba, Dulac, and inclusions of Annemaine. These soils are characterized by thin organic horizons, and deep (over two meters to bedrock) alluvial deposits of largely clayey sediment. The most dominant soil types are well drained and have an increase in clay content with increased depth.","vegetation":"Broadleaf deciduous forest with concentrations of low needleleaf evergreen trees and patches of bluestem prairie are typical of the lower reach of the Black Warrior watershed and along riverine systems throughout the region. In the lowland, hardwood tree species dominate, including black gum (Nyssa sylvatica), sweetgum (Liquidambar spp.), elm (Ulmus spp.), ash (Fraxinus spp.), and various oak species. Upland areas feature a higher concentration of pine species."},"geographic":{"boundaries":null,"coordinates":"POINT (-88.16122 31.85388)","country":["United States of America"],"elevation":{"avg":22,"min":8,"max":26,"unit":"msl"},"size":{"value":1620000,"unit":"ha"},"relatedLocations":null},"focusDesignScale":{"experiments":{"design":"mainly experimentation","scale":"catchment scale"},"observations":{"design":"mainly observation","scale":"entire catchment"},"observedProperties":[{"label":"DNA sequence","uri":"http:\/\/vocabs.lter-europe.net\/EnvThes\/21400"},{"label":"genetic parameter","uri":"http:\/\/vocabs.lter-europe.net\/EnvThes\/20942"},{"label":"land cover","uri":"http:\/\/vocabs.lter-europe.net\/EnvThes\/22142"},{"label":"landscape parameter","uri":"http:\/\/vocabs.lter-europe.net\/EnvThes\/20943"},{"label":"water parameter","uri":"http:\/\/vocabs.lter-europe.net\/EnvThes\/20945"},{"label":"water quality","uri":"http:\/\/vocabs.lter-europe.net\/EnvThes\/22312"}]},"infrastructure":{"accessibleAllYear":true,"accessType":null,"allPartsAccessible":null,"maintenanceInterval":null,"permanentPowerSupply":false,"operation":{"permanent":false,"notes":null,"siteVisitInterval":null},"notes":null,"collection":null,"data":{"policy":{"url":null,"rights":null,"notes":null}}},"relatedResources":null,"projectRelated":{"lter":{"lterSiteClassification":null}}}}