PhD Research GIS Final Project

In the above two maps, I show calcium concentration distribution and used a Fixed Euclidian distance Getis-Ord-Gi hotspot analysis to find spatial clusters and hot and low spots in calcium. My key findings were that calcium showed significant spatial clustering in the Spring Park and Sun sub watersheds in June. In July, that trend weakened and by August (which was a smaller sampling campaign though luckily complete in the Spring Park and Sun watersheds), which suggests that there is both a spatial and temporal trend in calcium at TCEF.

In the above map, I designated the watershed boundaries of the subwatersheds of Tenderfoot Creek and analyzed the correlation between calcium and rock type in the sub watersheds of Tenderfoot Creek. Rock type is highly correlated with montly clacium values and rock type is most likely an explanatory varaible of calcium. This result matches with the understanding that calcium is lithology driven, but has not previously been shown at this site. My detailed workflow for this anaylsis is below. 

I plan to continue this spatial and statistical analysis with other factors, such as vegetation and other water chemsitry metrics that are part of the dataset and look forward to continue using geospatial analysis as a key part of my PhD work.