Pacific Southwest

Title: Tracing atmospheric nitrate deposition in a complex semiarid ecosystem using Δ¹⁷O

Author: Michalski, Greg; Meixner, Thomas; Fenn, Mark E.; Hernandez, Larry; Sirulnik, Abby; Allen, Edith; Thiemens, Mark

Date: 2004

Source: Environmental Science and Technology 38(7):2175-2181

Description: The isotopic composition of nitrate collected from aerosols, fog, and precipitation was measured and found to have a large ¹⁷O anomaly with Δ¹⁷O values ranging from 20‰ to 30‰ (Δ¹⁷O δ¹⁷O - 0.52(δ¹⁸O)). This ¹⁷O anomaly was used to trace atmospheric deposition of nitrate to a semiarid ecosystem in southern California. We demonstrate that the Δ¹⁷O signal is a conserved tracer of atmospheric nitrate deposition and is a more robust indicator of N deposition relative to standard δ¹⁸O techniques. The data indicate that a substantial portion of nitrate found in the local soil, stream, and groundwater is of atmospheric origin and does not undergo biologic processing before being exported from the system.

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Citation

Michalski, Greg; Meixner, Thomas; Fenn, Mark E.; Hernandez, Larry; Sirulnik, Abby; Allen, Edith; Thiemens, Mark  2004.  Tracing atmospheric nitrate deposition in a complex semiarid ecosystem using Δ¹⁷O.   Environmental Science and Technology 38(7):2175-2181.