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Sources of nitrate in rivers draining sixteen watersheds in the northeastern U.S.: Isotopic constraints

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Abstract

The feasibility of using nitrogen and oxygenisotope ratios of nitrate (NO3 −) forelucidating sources and transformations ofriverine nitrate was evaluated in a comparativestudy of 16 watersheds in the northeastern U.S.A. Stream water was sampled repeatedly at theoutlets of the watersheds between January andDecember 1999 for determining concentrations,δ15N values, and δ18Ovalues of riverine nitrate.

In conjunction with information about land useand nitrogen fluxes,δ15Nnitrate andδ18Onitrate values providedmainly information about sources of riverinenitrate. In predominantly forested watersheds,riverine nitrate had mean concentrations ofless than 0.4 mg NO3 −-N L−1,δ15Nnitrate values of lessthan +5‰, and δ18Onitratevalues between +12 and +19‰. This indicatesthat riverine nitrate was almost exclusivelyderived from soil nitrification processes withpotentially minor nitrate contributions fromatmospheric deposition in some catchments. Inwatersheds with significant agricultural andurban land use, concentrations of riverinenitrate were as high as 2.6 mg NO3 −-NL−1 with δ15Nnitratevalues between +5 and +8‰ andδ18Onitrate values generallybelow +15‰. Correlations between nitrateconcentrations, δ15Nnitratevalues, and N fluxes suggest that nitrate inwaste water constituted a major, and nitrate inmanure a minor additional source of riverinenitrate. Atmospheric nitrate deposition ornitrate-containing fertilizers were not asignificant source of riverine nitrate inwatersheds with significant agricultural andurban land use. Although complementary studiesindicate that in-stream denitrification wassignificant in all rivers, the isotopiccomposition of riverine nitrate sampled at theoutlet of the 16 watersheds did not provideevidence for denitrification in the form ofelevated δ15Nnitrate andδ18Onitrate values. Relativelylow isotopic enrichment factors for nitrogenand oxygen during in-stream denitrification andcontinuous admixture of nitrate from theabove-described sources are thought to beresponsible for this finding.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departments of Geology & Geophysics and Physics & Astronomy, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, T2N 1N4

    Bernhard Mayer

  2. College of Environmental Science and Forestry, State University of New York, 1 Forestry Drive, Syracuse, NY, 13210, U.S.A

    Elizabeth W. Boyer

  3. Department of Plant Biology, Carnegie Institution of Washington, 260 Panama St., Stanford, CA, 94305, U.S.A

    Christine Goodale

  4. USEPA (retired), 2004 S. Magnolia Ave., Sanford, FL, 32771, U.S.A

    Norbert A. Jaworski

  5. Laboratory of Soil Science and Geology and Wageningen Institute for Environment and Climate Research, Wageningen University, Wageningen, the Netherlands

    Nico van Breemen & Douwe Van Dam

  6. Department of Ecology & Environmental Biology, Cornell University, Corson Hall, Ithaca, NY, 14853, U.S.A

    Robert W. Howarth

  7. Rutgers University, Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers/NOAA CMER Program, 71 Dudley Road, New Brunswick, NJ, 08901, U.S.A

    Sybil Seitzinger

  8. UMR Sisyphe, University of Paris VI, 4 Place Jussieu, 75005, Paris, France

    Gilles Billen

  9. Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, 97331, U.S.A

    Kate Lajtha

  10. Marine Biological Laboratory, The Ecosystems Center, Woods Hole, MA, 02543, U.S.A

    Knute Nadelhoffer

  11. Department of Energy and Environmental Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York, U.S.A

    Leo J. Hetling

  12. Department of Mathematics & Statistics, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, T2N 1N4

    Miloslav Nosal

  13. Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, 80523, U.S.A

    Keith Paustian

Authors
  1. Bernhard Mayer
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  2. Elizabeth W. Boyer
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  3. Christine Goodale
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  4. Norbert A. Jaworski
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  5. Nico van Breemen
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  6. Robert W. Howarth
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  7. Sybil Seitzinger
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  8. Gilles Billen
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  9. Kate Lajtha
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  10. Knute Nadelhoffer
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  11. Douwe Van Dam
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  12. Leo J. Hetling
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  13. Miloslav Nosal
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  14. Keith Paustian
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Correspondence to Bernhard Mayer.

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Mayer, B., Boyer, E.W., Goodale, C. et al. Sources of nitrate in rivers draining sixteen watersheds in the northeastern U.S.: Isotopic constraints. Biogeochemistry 57, 171–197 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1015744002496

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