Seasonality of nitrogen sources, cycling, and loading in a New England river discerned from nitrate isotope ratios

Rollinson, Veronica R.; Granger, Julie; Clark, Sydney C.; Blanusa, Mackenzie L.; Koerting, Claudia P.; Vaudrey, Jamie M. P.; Treibergs, Lija A.; Westbrook, Holly C.; Matassa, Catherine M.; Hastings, Meredith G.; Tobias, Craig R.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-3421-2021

Articles | Volume 18, issue 11

Biogeosciences, 18, 3421–3444, 2021

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-3421-2021

© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Biogeosciences, 18, 3421–3444, 2021

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-3421-2021

© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 18, issue 11

Research article 10 Jun 2021

Research article | 10 Jun 2021

Seasonality of nitrogen sources, cycling, and loading in a New England river discerned from nitrate isotope ratios

Veronica R. Rollinson et al.

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-3421-2021-supplement

Data sets

Seasonal nitrogen concentrations and nitrate isotopes of a New England River from 2018 to 2019 V. R. Rollinson, J. Granger, S. C. Clark, M. L. Blanusa, C. P. Koerting, J. M. P. Vaudrey, L. A. Treibergs, H. C. Westbrook, C. M. Matassa, M. K. Hastings, and C. R. Tobias https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.931561

Short summary

We measured nutrients and the naturally occurring nitrogen (N) and oxygen (O) stable isotope ratios of nitrate discharged from a New England river over an annual cycle, to monitor N loading and identify dominant sources from the watershed. We uncovered a seasonality to loading and sources of N from the watershed. Seasonality in the nitrate isotope ratios also informed on N cycling, conforming to theoretical expectations of riverine nutrient cycling.