Advances in Earth Science ›› 2007, Vol. 22 ›› Issue (12): 1251-1257. doi: 10.11867/j.issn.1001-8166.2007.12.1251

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The Application of Nitrogen and Oxygen Isotopes in the Study of Nitrate in Rivers

CHEN Fa-jin 1,2, LI Xue-hui 3, JIA Guo-dong 1   

  1. 1.State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Science, Guangzhou 510640, China; 2.Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences,Beijing 100039,China;3.Project Research and Development Center,Wuhai Coal Coking Corporation Limited of ShenHua Group,Wuhai 016000,China
  • Received:2007-07-14 Revised:2007-11-30 Online:2007-12-10 Published:2007-12-10

CHEN Fa-jin, LI Xue-hui, JIA Guo-dong. The Application of Nitrogen and Oxygen Isotopes in the Study of Nitrate in Rivers[J]. Advances in Earth Science, 2007, 22(12): 1251-1257.

Nitrate pollution has become a serious problem for many years in many rivers of the world. Differentiation of various nitrate sources and knowledge of nitrogen cycling processes occurring in river systems are very important to establish suitable methods for controlling nitrate pollution. Since δ15N and δ18O values vary in different sources of nitrate, more and more researchers attach great importance to the application of nitrogen and oxygen isotopes in riverine nitrate studies. This review summarizes recent trends in the study of distinguishing different sources of nitrate (atmospheric deposition, fertilizer, animal waste, nitrification in soils, etc.) and tracing nitrogen cycling processes, especially denitrification, in river systems by the means of isotope analysis of nitrate. The review also gives a discussion on the study of nitrate in Chinese rivers and proposes some prospects for further studies.

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