Temporal variability of colloidal material in agricultural storm runoff from managed grassland using flow field-flow fractionation

This paper reports the use of flow field-flow fractionation (FlFFF) to determine the temporal variability of colloidal (<1 μm) particle size distributions in agricultural runoff waters in a small managed catchment in SW England during storm events. Three storm events of varying intensity were captured and the colloidal material in the runoff analysed by FlFFF. The technique had sufficient sensitivity to determine directly the changing colloidal profile over the 0.08–1.0 μm size range in the runoff waters during these storm events. Rainfall, total phosphorus and suspended solids in the bulk runoff samples were also determined throughout one storm and showed significant correlation (P < 0.01) with the amount of colloidal material. Whilst there are some uncertainties in the resolution and absolute calibration of the FlFFF profiles, the technique has considerable potential for the quantification of colloidal material in storm runoff waters.