Abstract
Soil or groundwater potential contamination generated by urea spills during its manufacture process is unknown. The aim of this work is determining the fate and transport of Nitrogen (N) species (ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates) when high doses of urea are spilled on to the soil surface. Fertilizer concentrations applied to soil surface were in the range from 167 to 301 g N m−2. HYDRUS 2D was applied to simulate N-species transport in the unsaturated zone. Simulated soil water contents correctly represent field measurements during the period March 2018–December 2019 (rRMSE = 0.099). Measured and simulated concentrations of N–NH4+, N–NO2−, and N–NO3− presented a general r2 of 0.76 and RMSE of 0.0435 mg g−1 (rRMSE = 0.096). A considerable decrease in soil pH was observed after urea application. Simulated N losses by volatilization were found in the range of 7.9–13.3% of total urea-N input, in agreement with field measured quantities. According to N mass balance the predominant species are ammonium and nitrate. After hydrolysis of urea, nitrification is the dominant process in soil. At the end of the experiment, ammonium corresponded to 22% of total urea-N input, majorly concentrated in the first forty centimeters of soil profile. Otherwise, nitrate represented 52.7% of total urea-N input. Although simulated quantities of N–NO3− leached into the aquifer are negligible (0.23 g m−2), a significant solute load remains in soil, which could be mobilize in the future. Numerical modeling of N transport is a fundamental tool to predict and evaluate the characteristics of a pollutant event of this nature.
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Availability of data and material
The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
Code availability
HYDRUS 2D/3D (https://www.pc-progress.com/en/Default.aspx?hydrus-3d).
Abbreviations
- (CO(NH2)2):
-
Urea
- N–NH3 :
-
Ammonia
- N–NH4 :
-
Ammonium
- N–NO2 :
-
Nitrite
- N–NO3 :
-
Nitrate
- N:
-
Nitrogen
- UZ:
-
Unsaturated zone
- δb :
-
Soil bulk density
- θ:
-
Volumetric soil water content
- h:
-
Pressure head
- θr :
-
Residual water content
- θs :
-
Saturated water content
- α:
-
Inverse of the air-entry suction
- n:
-
Porosity distribution index
- m:
-
van Genuchten empirical parameter
- l:
-
Pore conductivity
- Ks :
-
Saturated hydraulic conductivity
- DL :
-
Longitudinal dispersivity
- Dt :
-
Transverse dispersivity
- Kh :
-
Henry’s constant
- Kd :
-
Soil–water partitioning coefficient
- μh :
-
Hydrolysis first order decay constant
- μnit :
-
Nitrification first order decay constant
- μdenit :
-
Denitrification first order decay constant
- AVr :
-
Ammonia volatilization rate
- C:
-
Dissolved phase concentration
- S:
-
Solid phase concentration
- Cg :
-
Gaseous phase concentration
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Acknowledgements
We thank PROFERTIL S.A. for allowing field trials to be carried out in their facilities and for the financial support to realize chemical analyzes.
Funding
Research was supported by PROFERTIL S.A. The financial support was used to realize chemical analyzes in soil samples. The research was also supported by Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET) and Universidad Nacional del Sur (UNS).
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SLE conceptualization, methodology, software, validation, and writing—original draft. ZV formal analysis, writing—review and editing, and visualization. LD writing—review and editing. LC conceptualization, resources, supervision, and project administration.
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Scherger, L.E., Zanello, V., Lafont, D. et al. Modeling fate and transport of ammonium, nitrite, and nitrate in a soil contaminated with large dose of urea. Environ Earth Sci 80, 539 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-021-09814-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-021-09814-0