Data Entry: Please note that the research database will be replaced by UNIverse by the end of October 2023. Please enter your data into the system https://universe-intern.unibas.ch. Thanks
Delayed nitrate dispersion within a coastal aquifer provides constraints on land-use evolution and nitrate contamination in the past
Journal
Science of the Total Environment
Volume
644
Pages / Article-Number
928-940
Keywords
Environmental isotopes, δ15N-NO3, δ11B, Anthropogenic contamination, Groundwater residence time, Corsica
Abstract
Identifying sources of anthropogenic pollution, and assessing the fate and residence time of pollutants in aquifers is important for the management of groundwater resources, and the ecological health of groundwater dependent ecosystems. This study investigates anthropogenic contamination in the shallow alluvial aquifer of the Marana- Casinca, hydraulically connected to the Biguglia lagoon (Corsica, France). A multi-tracer approach, combining geochemical and environmental isotopic data ( δ 18 O-H 2 O, δ 2 H-H 2 O, 3 H, δ 15 N-NO − 3 , δ 18 O-NO − 3 , δ 11 B), and ground- water residence-time tracers ( 3 H and CFCs) was carried out in 2016, and integrated with a study of land use evo- lution in the catchment during the last century. Groundwater NO − 3 concentrations, ranged between 2 mg/L and up to 30 mg/L, displaying the degradation of groundwater quality induced by anthropogenic activities (agricul- tural activities). Comparatively high δ 15 N-NO − 3 values (up to 19.7 ‰ ) in combination with δ 11 B values that were signi fi cantly lower (between 23 ‰ and 26 ‰ ) than the seawater background are indicative of sewage con- tamination. The ongoing deterioration of groundwater quality can be attributed to the uncontrolled urbanization development all over the alluvial plain, with numerous sewage leakages from the sanitation network and private sewage systems. Integration of contaminant and water-residence time data revealed a progressive accumulation of pollutants with time in the groundwater, particularly in areas with major anthropogenic pressure and slow dy- namic groundwater fl ow. Our approach provides time-dependent insight into nitrogen pollution in the studied aquifer over the past decades, revealing a systematic change in the dominant NO − 3 source, from agricultural to sewage contamination. Yet, today's low groundwater quality is to large parts due to legacy pollution from land-use practices several decades ago, underlining the poor self-remediating capacity of this hydrosystem. Our results can be taken as warning that groundwater pollution that happened in the recent past, or today, may have dire impacts on the quality of groundwater-dependent ecosystems in the future.
