Nitrogen isotope studies of nitrate contamination of the thick vadose zones in the wastewater-irrigated area

The objective of this study was to investigate natural abundance and the distribution of nitrogen isotopic compositions to assess denitrification in two ~30 m thick vadose zones beneath the different land uses in the wastewater-irrigated area located in southern Shijiazhuang, China. Sediment samples were collected from cores of boreholes drilled in the vegetable growth plot and the wastewater-irrigated farmland for analyses of nitrogen isotopes, physical and chemical properties, respectively. The profile of borehole A drilled in the vegetable growth plot only applied animal wastes had lower δ¹⁵N values of mean +7.5 ‰ in the upper vadose zone, but higher values of mean +10.9 ‰ in the lower vadose zone. δ¹⁵N values in each part varied little with depth, indicating no or little denitrification occurred in the deep vadose zone below the soil zone. The profile of borehole B drilled in the wastewater-irrigated farmland had low δ¹⁵N values of mean +5.7 ‰ below the soil zone and little variations of δ¹⁵N values with depth, indicating no or little denitrification occurred in the deep vadose zone below the soil zone. This was also verified by consistent variations of NO₃ ⁻ and SO₄ ²⁻ contents with Cl⁻ contents. Our results suggested most of leachable nitrate from the soil zone was hardly subjected to biological attenuation into groundwater.