TY - JOUR
T1 - Interplay of legacy irrigation and nitrogen fertilizer inputs to spatial variability of arsenic and uranium within the deep vadose zone
AU - Malakar, Arindam
AU - Ray, Chittaranjan
AU - D'Alessio, Matteo
AU - Shields, Jordan
AU - Adams, Craig
AU - Stange, Marty
AU - Weber, Karrie A.
AU - Snow, Daniel D.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors thank Dr. Sudeshna Dutta for helping to design Fig. 1. The authors thank Dr. Michael Kaiser for providing critical input in our statistical analysis. The authors thank Dr. Somdipta Bagchi for her input in the revised manuscript. The authors thank Jacob Maslonka from Upper Big Blue Natural Resources Districts for providing fertilizer application rates at the Hastings coring sites. Authors thank Jenny Sidlo from Hastings Utilities for providing information on groundwater monitoring well. Authors thank Jesse Starita from Nebraska Water Center for editorial revision of the manuscript. Authors thank Keith Miller (City of Hastings, NE) for assistance in securing permission to collect core samples and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln School of Natural Resources Conservation and Survey Division drillers Matt Marxsen and John Seamann for their efforts in collecting the vadose zone core samples. Funding for this project was provided by the Nebraska Environmental Trust and the City of Hastings (Grant ID# 74649). The part of the laboratory work for this project was performed at the University of Nebraska Water Sciences Laboratory core facility. Additional analyses were conducted in the Nebraska Nanoscale Facility: National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure and the Nebraska Center for Materials and Nanoscience, supported by the National Science Foundation under Award ECCS: 1542182, National Science Foundation. EPSCoR Center for Root and Rhizobiome Innovation Award OIA-1557471 to KAW and the Nebraska Research Initiative. AM thanks USDA-NIFA Grant (Accession No: 1027886). DDS and KAW thanks USGS104G grant (2014NE265G).
Funding Information:
The authors thank Dr. Sudeshna Dutta for helping to design Fig. 1 . The authors thank Dr. Michael Kaiser for providing critical input in our statistical analysis. The authors thank Dr. Somdipta Bagchi for her input in the revised manuscript. The authors thank Jacob Maslonka from Upper Big Blue Natural Resources Districts for providing fertilizer application rates at the Hastings coring sites. Authors thank Jenny Sidlo from Hastings Utilities for providing information on groundwater monitoring well. Authors thank Jesse Starita from Nebraska Water Center for editorial revision of the manuscript. Authors thank Keith Miller (City of Hastings, NE) for assistance in securing permission to collect core samples and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln School of Natural Resources Conservation and Survey Division drillers Matt Marxsen and John Seamann for their efforts in collecting the vadose zone core samples. Funding for this project was provided by the Nebraska Environmental Trust and the City of Hastings (Grant ID# 74649 ). The part of the laboratory work for this project was performed at the University of Nebraska Water Sciences Laboratory core facility. Additional analyses were conducted in the Nebraska Nanoscale Facility: National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure and the Nebraska Center for Materials and Nanoscience, supported by the National Science Foundation under Award ECCS: 1542182 , National Science Foundation. EPSCoR Center for Root and Rhizobiome Innovation Award OIA-1557471 to KAW and the Nebraska Research Initiative. AM thanks USDA-NIFA Grant (Accession No: 1027886). DDS and KAW thanks USGS104G grant (2014NE265G).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2023/11/1
Y1 - 2023/11/1
N2 - The vadose zone is a reservoir for geogenic and anthropogenic contaminants. Nitrogen and water infiltration can affect biogeochemical processes in this zone, ultimately affecting groundwater quality. In this large-scale field study, we evaluated the input and occurrence of water and nitrogen species in the vadose zone of a public water supply wellhead protection (WHP) area (defined by a 50-year travel time to groundwater for public supply wells) and potential transport of nitrate, ammonium, arsenic, and uranium. Thirty-two deep cores were collected and grouped by irrigation practices: pivot (n = 20), gravity (n = 4) irrigated using groundwater, and non-irrigated (n = 8) sites. Beneath pivot-irrigated sites, sediment nitrate concentrations were significantly (p < 0.05) lower, while ammonium concentrations were significantly (p < 0.05) higher than under gravity sites. The spatial distribution of sediment arsenic and uranium was evaluated against estimated nitrogen and water loading beneath cropland. Irrigation practices were randomly distributed throughout the WHP area and presented a contrasting pattern of sediment arsenic and uranium occurrence. Sediment arsenic correlated with iron (r = 0.32, p < 0.05), uranium negatively correlated to sediment nitrate (r = −0.23, p < 0.05), and ammonium (r = −0.19 p < 0.05). This study reveals that irrigation water and nitrogen influx influence vadose zone geochemistry and mobilization of geogenic contaminants affecting groundwater quality beneath intensive agricultural systems.
AB - The vadose zone is a reservoir for geogenic and anthropogenic contaminants. Nitrogen and water infiltration can affect biogeochemical processes in this zone, ultimately affecting groundwater quality. In this large-scale field study, we evaluated the input and occurrence of water and nitrogen species in the vadose zone of a public water supply wellhead protection (WHP) area (defined by a 50-year travel time to groundwater for public supply wells) and potential transport of nitrate, ammonium, arsenic, and uranium. Thirty-two deep cores were collected and grouped by irrigation practices: pivot (n = 20), gravity (n = 4) irrigated using groundwater, and non-irrigated (n = 8) sites. Beneath pivot-irrigated sites, sediment nitrate concentrations were significantly (p < 0.05) lower, while ammonium concentrations were significantly (p < 0.05) higher than under gravity sites. The spatial distribution of sediment arsenic and uranium was evaluated against estimated nitrogen and water loading beneath cropland. Irrigation practices were randomly distributed throughout the WHP area and presented a contrasting pattern of sediment arsenic and uranium occurrence. Sediment arsenic correlated with iron (r = 0.32, p < 0.05), uranium negatively correlated to sediment nitrate (r = −0.23, p < 0.05), and ammonium (r = −0.19 p < 0.05). This study reveals that irrigation water and nitrogen influx influence vadose zone geochemistry and mobilization of geogenic contaminants affecting groundwater quality beneath intensive agricultural systems.
KW - Ammonium
KW - Arsenic
KW - Irrigation
KW - Nitrate
KW - Unsaturated/vadose zone
KW - Uranium
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85164658181&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85164658181&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.165299
DO - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.165299
M3 - Article
C2 - 37419358
AN - SCOPUS:85164658181
SN - 0048-9697
VL - 897
JO - Science of the Total Environment
JF - Science of the Total Environment
M1 - 165299
ER -