General Background:
• Riparian buffer zones are lands that
border streams, rivers, lakes, and estuaries. They are transition
zones between the upland and surface water.
• Riparian buffer zones are important locations for groundwater
nitrate removal. Riparian buffers may remove nitrate before it enters streams
and other tributaries to coastal waters. Click here to
view a PDF diagram of the N cycle in riparian zones.
What has been our contribution?
Gold
et al. 2001
• At our riparian sites, high groundwater nitrate removal rates
were restricted to hydric soils.
• Sites located on outwash and organic/alluvial deposits have high
potential for nitrate-enriched groundwater to interact with biologically active
zones.
• In till deposits, surface seeps limit groundwater nitrate removal.
Addy
et al. 2002
• New method to provide useful insights
into spatial and temporal patterns of groundwater denitrification in riparian
zones.
Kellogg
et al. 2005
• High denitrification rates observed in hydric soils, down
to 3m within 10 m of the stream in both alluvial and glacial outwash
settings, argue for the importance of both settings in evaluating
the significance of riparian wetlands in catchment-scale N dynamics.
• At deeper depths, rates were significantly higher closer to the
stream where the subsoil often contains organically enriched deposits that
indicate fluvial geomorphic processes.
For our complete publication listing and more information on on-going projects and papers in press, please visit our publications page.
