Unravelling organic matter and nutrient biogeochemistry in groundwater-fed rivers under baseflow conditions : uncertainty in in situ high-frequency analysis

Bieroza, Magdalena Zofia and Heathwaite, Ann Louise (2016) Unravelling organic matter and nutrient biogeochemistry in groundwater-fed rivers under baseflow conditions : uncertainty in in situ high-frequency analysis. Science of the Total Environment, 572. pp. 1520-1533. ISSN 0048-9697

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Abstract

In agricultural catchments, diffuse nutrient fluxes (mainly nitrogen N and phosphorus P), are observed to pollute receiving waters and cause eutrophication. Organic matter (OM) is important in mediating biogeochemical processes in freshwaters. Time series of the variation in nutrient and OM loads give insights into flux processes and their impact on biogeochemistry but are costly to maintain and challenging to analyse for elements that are highly reactive in the environment. We evaluated the capacity of the automated monitoring to capture typically low baseflow concentrations of the reactive forms of nutrients and OM: total reactive phosphorus (TRP), nitrate nitrogen (NO3-N) and tryptophan-like fluorescence (TLF). We compared the performance of in situ monitoring (wet chemistry analyser, UV–vis and fluorescence sensors) and automated grab sampling without instantaneous analysis using autosamplers. We found that automatic grab sampling shows storage transformations for TRP and TLF and do not reproduce the diurnal concentration pattern captured by the in situ analysers. The in situ TRP and fluorescence analysers respond to temperature variation and the relationship is concentration-dependent. Accurate detection of low P concentrations is particularly challenging due to large errors associated with both the in situ and autosampler measurements. Aquatic systems can be very sensitive to even low concentrations of P typical of baseflow conditions. Understanding transformations and measurement variability in reactive forms of nutrients and OM associated with in situ analysis is of great importance for understanding in-stream biogeochemical functioning and establishing robust monitoring protocols.

Item Type:
Journal Article
Journal or Publication Title:
Science of the Total Environment
Additional Information:
This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Science of the Total Environment. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Science of the Total Environment, 572, 2016 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.02.046
Uncontrolled Keywords:
/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/2300/2304
Subjects:
?? macronutrientsnitrogenphosphorusorganic matterbaseflowmonitoringhigh-resolution samplingautosamplersoptical sensorsgroundwater-fed streamsenvironmental chemistrypollutionenvironmental engineeringwaste management and disposal ??
ID Code:
78412
Deposited By:
Deposited On:
14 Mar 2016 12:10
Refereed?:
Yes
Published?:
Published
Last Modified:
18 Dec 2023 01:35