Author
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Burkart, Michael |
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STONER, JEFFREY - USGS-WRD |
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Submitted to: Ecological Society of America Proceedings
Publication Type: Abstract Only Publication Acceptance Date: 10/18/2001 Publication Date: 10/18/2001 Citation: BURKART, M.R., STONER, J.D. EFFECTS OF AGRICULTURAL SYSTEMS ON NITROGEN IN GROUNDWATER. ECOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA PROCEEDINGS. 2001. CD-ROM. WASHINGTON, DC. Interpretive Summary: Technical Abstract: Research from several regions of the world provide spatially anecdotal information to hypothesize the hydrologic and agricultural factors affecting groundwater vulnerability to nitrate contamination. Analysis of nationally consistent data from the U.S. Geological Survey NAWQA program confirm these hypotheses for a range of agricultural systems. Shallow unconfined aquifers are most susceptible to nitrate contamination associated with agricultural systems. Alluvial and other unconsolidated aquifers are the most vulnerable followed by shallow carbonate aquifers. Where overlain by permeable soils the risk of contamination is larger. Corn, soybeans, and hogs had larger concentrations of nitrate than all other agricultural systems. If fertilizer and groundwater nitrate trends in the U.S. are repeated elsewhere, Asia may experience increasing groundwater problems because of recent dramatic increases in fertilizer use. Groundwater monitoring in Western and Eastern Europe and Russia over the next decade may help determine if nitrate contamination can be reversed. In these regions fertilizer use has dropped since the early 1990's. If the concentrated livestock trend in the United States is global, it may be accompanied by increasing nitrogen contamination in groundwater. Irrigation was found to have larger groundwater-nitrate concentrations in many parts of the world. This practice is expanding throughout the world, but particularly in Asia. |
