2023 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Conference

March 5-7, 2023 • Cincinnati, OH

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5/26/2021 | 8:30 AM - 10:30 AM | Surface and groundwater denitrification create contrasting patterns of carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur at watershed scales | Virtual Platform

Surface and groundwater denitrification create contrasting patterns of carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur at watershed scales

Nitrogen and phosphorus pollution have triggered eutrophication in most freshwater and coastal ecosystems, contributing to a loss in biodiversity and costing the global economy trillions every year. Much of the research on nutrient transport and retention has focused on surface environments, which are both easy to access and biologically active. However, recent research suggests that subsurface processes and characteristics may be more important in determining watershed-level nutrient fluxes and removal than previously understood. We tested the importance of residence time, biogeochemical reaction rate, and flowpath in determining nitrate concentration by collecting a biogeochemical dataset from 14 wells and 12 streams in a small watershed in western France. Water chemistry in both the surface and subsurface showed high temporal variability, but groundwater was substantially more spatially variable, attributable to long transport times (10-60 years) and patchy distribution of electron donors. Isotopes of nitrate and sulfate revealed fundamentally different processes dominating the surface (heterotrophic denitrification and sulfur reduction) and subsurface (autotrophic denitrification and sulfate production from weathering). Characterizing how these worlds are both linked and decoupled is critical to meeting water quality targets and ensuring water security in the Anthropocene.

Land use
Nutrient cycling
Residence time

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Presenters/Authors

Mary Proteau (), Brigham Young University, mary.proteau@gmail.com;