Nutrient balances, river loads, and a counterfactual analysis to determine drivers of Mississippi River nitrogen and phosphorus loads from 1975 to 2017

This dataset consists of input and output datasets for estimating nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) balances for the Mississippi River Basin from 1950 to 2017. The N balance was calculated as the difference between inputs (fertilizer, manure, wastewater treatment facility effluent, N fixation, and atmospheric deposition) and outputs (crop uptake and removal in harvest and gaseous emissions to the atmosphere). The P balance was calculated as the difference between inputs (fertilizer, manure, wastewater treatment facility effluent, and weathering) minus outputs (specifically, P harvested and removed in crops, hay, and pasture).