Assessment of natural and anthropogenic contamination sources in a Mediterranean aquifer by combining hydrochemical and stable isotope techniques

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F60460709%3A41330%2F23%3A97502" target="_blank" >RIV/60460709:41330/23:97502 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.159763" target="_blank" >http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.159763</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.159763" target="_blank" >10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.159763</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Assessment of natural and anthropogenic contamination sources in a Mediterranean aquifer by combining hydrochemical and stable isotope techniques

Original language description

The Atalanti basin is an intensively cultivated area in central Greece, facing groundwater quality deterioration threats due to natural and anthropogenic-related contamination sources. A combination of statistical and hydrogeochemical techniques, and stable isotope compositions (82H-H2O and 818O-H2O, 815N-NO3- and 818O-NO3-, 834S-SO42- and 818O-SO42-) were applied to elucidate the origin of salinity and nitrate contamination, and shed light on the potential associations between geogenic Cr(VI) and NO3- sources and transformations. Nitrate and Cr(VI) concentrations reached up to 337 mg L-1 and 76.1 mu g L-1, respectively, exceeding WHO threshold values in places. The cluster of samples with the high salinity was mostly influenced by irrigation return flow and marine aerosols, and less by seawa-ter intrusion, as evidenced by the ionic ratios (e.g., Na+/Cl-) and the stable isotopes of oxygen and hydrogen in water, and sulphur and oxygen in sulphates. The 815N-NO3- and 818O-NO3- values ranged from +2.0 %o to +14.5 %o and + 0.3 %o to +11.0 %o, respectively. We found that the dominant sources of NO3- in groundwater were fertilizers in the central part of the area and sewage waste in the northern part around the residential area of Livanates. The occurrence of denitrification was evident in the northern part of the basin, where the DO levels were lowest (<= 2.2 mg L-1), whereas nitrification of NH4+-fertilizers prevailed in the central part. Elevated Cr(VI) values (>= 20 mu g/l) were associated with the lowest deviation of the measured from the theoretical nitrification 818O-NO3-values, whereas the lowest Cr(VI) values were observed in the denitrified water samples. Our isotope findings revealed the strong influence of redox conditions on the biogeochemical transformations of N species and the mobilization of Cr(VI) that will help improve the understanding of the fate of these contaminants from the unsaturated zone to the groundwater in areas of agricultural and urban land use.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

10511 - Environmental sciences (social aspects to be 5.7)

Project

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Continuities

S - Specificky vyzkum na vysokych skolach

Publication year

2023

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Science of the Total Environment

ISSN

0048-9697

e-ISSN

0048-9697

Volume of the periodical

858

Issue of the periodical within the volume

1

Country of publishing house

NL - THE KINGDOM OF THE NETHERLANDS

Number of pages

12

Pages from-to

1-12

UT code for WoS article

000913196100012

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-85140885273