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Nitrate removal rate and organic matter

We found the highest Nitrate removal capacity at site Simested followed by Haderis, Villestrup and Odderbæk. Site Simested recieved a higher nitrate concentration in the inlet water compared to the other sites. Our model showed that nitrate removal rate are regulated by the nitrate and sulfate concentration and carbon content in the soil.

Graph

 

What is able to detect in this figure? This four graphs are illustrating nitrate removal rate on a dry weight basis, the percentage organic matter in the soil and ratio between nitrogen and carbon content in soil. Values are calculated between two measuring points below soil surface, (6 values from -30 (inlet) to 0 (outlet) for each variable), at sites Odderbæk , Haderis, Villestrup and Simested.

What is illustrated?

It is possible to see that site Haderis and Simested have higher percentage organic matter in the soil compared to the other sites. We could also detect Simested and Haderis have higher nitrate removal rate at a certain depth compared to the other sites. The organic matter increased with the depth at site Haderis and nitrate removal rate also increase with a higher organic matter content in the soil. The ratio of carbon and nitrogen could explain the quality of the organic matter in the soil. Lower ratio means better quality, it is able to see that site Simested have lower ratio at the first cm in the core compared to site Haderis.

Finally it is able to see that nitrate removal rate decrease or even close to zero closer to the outlet at site Haderis and especially Simested. The reason behind this phenomena is simply that the nitrate have already been used, there is no nitrate left in the groundwater when it reached those depths, this is also possible to see in Greenhouse gas results


Responsible for this page: Director of undergraduate studies Biology
Last updated: 05/07/12