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

  • Chapter
The Nitrogen Cycle at Regional to Global Scales

Abstract

The feasibility of using nitrogen and oxygen isotope ratios of nitrate (NO −3 ) for elucidating sources and transformations of riverine nitrate was evaluated in a comparative study of 16 watersheds in the northeastern U.S.A. Stream water was sampled repeatedly at the outlets of the watersheds between January and December 1999 for determining concentrations, δ 15N values, and δ 180 values of riverine nitrate.

In conjunction with information about land use and nitrogen fluxes, δ 15Nnitrate and δ 18Onitrate values provided mainly information about sources of riverine nitrate. In predominantly forested watersheds, riverine nitrate had mean concentrations of less than 0.4 mg NO −3 -N L−1,δ 15Nnitrate values of less than +5‰, and δ 18Onitrate values between +12 and +19‰. This indicates that riverine nitrate was almost exclusively derived from soil nitrification processes with potentially minor nitrate contributions from atmospheric deposition in some catchments. In watersheds with significant agricultural and urban land use, concentrations of riverine nitrate were as high as 2.6 mg NO −3 -N L−1 with δ 15Nnitrate values between +5 and +8‰ and δ 18Onitrate values generally below +15‰. Correlations between nitrate concentrations,δ 15Onitrate values, and N fluxes suggest that nitrate in waste water constituted a major, and nitrate in manure a minor additional source of riverine nitrate. Atmospheric nitrate deposition or nitrate-containing fertilizers were not a significant source of riverine nitrate in watersheds with significant agricultural and urban land use. Although complementary studies indicate that in-stream denitrification was significant in all rivers, the isotopic composition of riverine nitrate sampled at the outlet of the 16 watersheds did not provide evidence for denitrification in the form of elevated δ 15Nnitrate and δ 18Onitrate values. Relatively low isotopic enrichment factors for nitrogen and oxygen during in-stream denitrification and continuous admixture of nitrate from the above-described sources are thought to be responsible for this finding.

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Author information

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, USA

    Elizabeth W. Boyer

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

    Christine Goodale

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

    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, USA

    Robert W. Howarth

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

    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, USA

    Kate Lajtha

  10. Marine Biological Laboratory, The Ecosystems Center, Woods Hole, MA, 02543, USA

    Knute Nadelhoffer

  11. Department of Energy and Environmental Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York, USA

    Leo J. Hetling

  12. Department of Mathematics and 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, USA

    Keith Paustian

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  1. Bernhard Mayer
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. State University of New York, Syracuse, New York, USA

    Elizabeth W. Boyer (Co-Editor) (Co-Editor)

  2. The Ecosystems Center, Marine Biological Lab, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA

    Robert W. Howarth (Co-Editor) (Co-Editor)

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Mayer, B. et al. (2002). Sources of nitrate in rivers draining sixteen watersheds in the northeastern U.S.: Isotopic constraints. In: Boyer, E.W., Howarth, R.W. (eds) The Nitrogen Cycle at Regional to Global Scales. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-3405-9_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-3405-9_5

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-90-481-6086-0

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