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The discharge of nitrate-contaminated groundwater from developed shoreline to marsh-fringed estuary

Water Resources Research
By: , , , and 
https://doi.org/10.1029/98WR02167

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Abstract

As residential development, on-site wastewater disposal, and groundwater contamination increase in the coastal zone, assessment of nutrient removal by soil and sedimentary processes becomes increasingly important. Nitrogen removal efficiency depends largely on the specific flow paths taken by groundwater as it discharges into nitrogen-limited estuarine waters. Shoreline salinity surveys, hydraulic studies, and thermal infrared imagery indicated that groundwater discharge into the Nauset Marsh estuary (Eastham, Massachusetts) occurred in high-velocity seeps immediately seaward of the upland-fringing salt marsh. Discharge was highly variable spatially and occurred through permeable, sandy sediments during low tide. Seepage chamber monitoring showed that dissolved inorganic nitrogen (principally nitrate) traversed nearly conservatively from the aquifer through shallow estuarine sediments to coastal waters at flux rates of 1–3 mmol m−2 h−1. A significant relationship between pore water NO3-N concentrations and NO3-N flux rates may provide a rapid method of estimating nitrogen loading from groundwater to the water column.

Publication type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Title The discharge of nitrate-contaminated groundwater from developed shoreline to marsh-fringed estuary
Series title Water Resources Research
DOI 10.1029/98WR02167
Volume 34
Issue 11
Year Published 1998
Language English
Publisher American Geophysical Union
Contributing office(s) Patuxent Wildlife Research Center
Description 10 p.
First page 3095
Last page 3104
Country United States
State Massachusets
City Eastham
Other Geospatial Nauset Marsh estuary
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