Deciphering Soil Nitrogen Biogeochemical Processes Using Nitrogen and Oxygen Stable Isotopes
Abstract
Variations in stable isotope abundances of nitrogen (δ15N) and oxygen (δ18O) of nitrate are a useful tool for determining sources of nitrate as well as understanding the transformations of nitrogen within soil (Chapter 2). Various sources of nitrate are known to display distinctive isotopic compositions, while nitrogen transformation processes fractionate both N and O isotopes and can reveal the reaction pathways of nitrogen compounds. However, to fully understand the δ15N and δ18O values of nitrate sources, we must understand the chemistry and the isotopic fractionations that occur during inorganic and biochemical reactions. Among all N cycle processes, nitrification and denitrification displayed some of the largest and most variable isotope enrichment factors, ranging from -35 to 0‰ for nitrification, and -40 to -5‰ for denitrification. In this dissertation, I will first characterize the isotopic enrichment factors of 15N during nitrification and denitrification in a Midwestern agricultural soil, two important microbial processes in the soil nitrogen cycle. Nitrification incubations found that a large enrichment factor of -25.5‰ occurs during nitrification NH4+ → NO3-, which agrees well with previous studies (Chapter 3). Additionally, oxygen isotopic exchange that occurs between nitrite and water during nitrification was also quantified and found that 82% of oxygen in NO3- are derived from H2O, much greater than the 66% predicted by the biochemical steps of nitrification. The isotopic enrichment that occurs during denitrification was assessed by measuring the change in δ15N as the reactant NO3- was reduced to N2 gas (Chapter 4). The incubations and kinetic models showed that denitrification can causes large isotopic enrichment in the δ15N of remaining NO3-. The enrichment factor for NO2- → gaseous N was -9.1‰, while the enrichment factors for NO3- → NO2- were between -17 to -10‰, both of which were within the range of values report in literature. The results demonstrated that nitrification and denitrification caused large isotope fractionation and can alter the presumed δ15N and δ18O values of nitrate sources, potentially leading to incorrect apportionment of nitrate sources. The results of the denitrification incubation experiments were applied to a field study, where the measured enrichment factor was utilized to quantify loss of N by field-scale denitrification (Chapter 5). Field-based estimates of total denitrification have long been a challenge and only limited success has been found using N mass balance, N2O gas flux, or isotope labeling techniques. Here, the flux of nitrate and chloride from tile drain discharge from a small field was determined by measuring both dissolved ions (ion chromatography) and monitoring water discharge. The δ15N and δ18O of tile nitrate was also measured at a high temporal resolution. Fluxes of all N inputs, which included N wet and dry deposition, fertilizer application, and soil mineralization were determined.
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Michalski, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Energy|Climate Change|Biogeochemistry|Agronomy|Atomic physics|Mathematics|Microbiology|Paleoclimate Science|Physics|Soil sciences
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