This resource includes cation (CAIO) data collected from Kings Creek within the Konza Prairie Biological Station. These data were collected in support of the sampling goals of the Aquatic Intermittency effects on Microbiomes in Streams (AIMS) Project. This study was conducted on the South Fork of the Kings Creek research watershed (outlet location: 39.092281, -96.58719) within Konza Prairie Biological Station (KBPS) near Manhattan (KS, USA). At the USGS gage located on the mainstem (06879560; est. 1979), Kings Creek is a 5th order intermittent stream draining 1059-ha of tallgrass prairie that is actively managed using controlled buns at varying frequencies (1-20 year return intervals) and grazing by bison or cattle. Kings Creek ranges in elevation from 338 to 430 m above sea level and drains into the Kansas River. The region is within a midwestern continental climate, with temperatures ranging from 4 to 22°C and mean annual precipitation averaging about 780 mm/yr.

This site lies within the Flint Hills ecoregion of eastern KS and northeastern OK, has a mean annual temperature of 11.7ºC (1983-2020), and 811 mm annual precipitation (1983-2020) with high interannual variability and an estimated 75% of annual precipitation occurring during late spring and early summer (Hayden 1998, Sadayappan et al. 2023). The AIMS study catchment, the South Fork of Kings Creek, is grazed by bison year-round, and includes sub-catchments with variable prescribed burn history, but the entire study area was burned in early April 2021. The riparian vegetation is deciduous gallery forest and the highest portion of the landscape is tallgrass prairie (Dodds et al. 2004) dominated by warm-season grasses, though woody encroachment has occurred in most subwatersheds (Sadayappan et al. 2023)*. The underlying bedrock of the Flint Hills ecotone is characterized as limestone, mudstone, and shale with predominately silty clay loam soils that rest atop (Hayden 1998, Vero et al. 2018).

We collected samples every ~3 weeks from 2021 to 2024 at the outlet of our watershed (SFM01, approach 1), seasonally at seven distributed sites (approach 2), and at 43 sites across the watershed between June 4, 2021-June 5, 2025 .
Samples were filtered in the field with a 0.45um PES filter and acidified to 2% nitric acid for preservation until analysis. Immediately prior to analysis, samples were filtered with a 0.2um PES filter. Aqueous concentrations of cations were determined using coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) (Horiba Ultima 2, Horiba Jobin Yvon) fitted with an AS 500 autosampler. The instrument has a glass concentric nebulizer equipped with a cyclonic chamber. The generator power is 1000 W. The plasma and auxiliary gas flow rate are 12 L/min and 0 L/min. The sheath gas flow rate and nebulizer are 0.2 and 0.8 L/min. Argon pressure is 80 psi. Multi-elemental standards are prepared in 2% nitric acid as well.

Intermediate tab has data from all triplicates; final data shows only triplicate average, st dev, and RSD (relative st dev). RSD (relative standard deviation is included in intermediate tab; red color indicates values above 10%). We recommend that users use what is presented in the final data tab, as not every replicate has been accounted for and the data has been cleaned.

Low standard for each analyte (below): our lab uses this as the conservative detection limit/LOD. Na - 0.5 ppm / Ca - 0.5 ppm / B - 0.02 ppm / Mg - 0.5 ppm / Si - 0.5 ppm / K - 0.2 ppm / Sr - 0.05 ppm. Note: Boron (B) is almost always below our lowest standard. Most of this data is not useable/below our minimum standard.