Using Nitrate N and O Isotope Ratios to Identify Nitrate Sources and Dominant Nitrogen Cycling Processes in a 12ha Tile Drained Dryland Agricultural Field in the Palouse Basin of Eastern Washington State

Agricultural systems are a leading source of reactive nitrogen to aquatic and atmospheric ecosystem. Understanding how anthropogenic nitrogen sources are cycled during transport from agricultural systems to aquatic and atmospheric systems is essential to identify the sink(s) of missing nitrogen and improve nitrogen management. Here we use natural nitrate 15N and 18O isotope abundances to determine the timing of nitrogen cycling process and to identify the source of nitrate discharged from a tile drained section of the WSU Cook Agronomy Farm. Previous research at the Cook Farm has shown that 5% to 20% of fertilizer nitrogen leaves the system as nitrate through the tile-drain. Identifying the timing of nitrogen cycling events and identifying the source(s) of tile drain nitrate is the first step to reduce nitrogen loss to aquatic systems bordering agricultural land. Throughout the 5 year study period δ18Onitrate averaged -1.26±1.48‰, indicating that nitrate-oxygen isotopes were not being enriched. Tile drain nitrate δ15N varied seasonally from -0.48‰ in the winter to +9.24‰ during the summer with an average of +3.19±2.62‰. The lack of nitrate-oxygen enrichment during the study period indicates that nitrification is the dominant nitrogen cycling process in the tile drained soil. The expected δ18Onitrate from nitrification based on the nitrification equation is -2.0‰, also supporting the claim that nitrification is the dominant nitrogen cycling process in the soil drained by the tile drain system. The large range of nitrate δ15N overlaps the expected isotope values for nitrate from nitrified synthetic nitrogen fertilizers and soil organic nitrogen. Nitrate-nitrogen and nitrate-oxygen isotope abundances have shown that nitrate in high nitrate concentration TD discharge originates from nitrification of reduced nitrogen fertilizers and nitrate in low nitrate concentration TD discharge originates from nitrification of; 1) soil organic nitrogen, 2) biotically enriched reduced nitrogen fertilizers or 3) a combination of the two. These findings also suggest that missing nitrogen from the Cook Agronomy Farm could be lost as gaseous emission of NO and N2O during nitrification. WSU Cook Agronomy Farm tile drain and precipitation nitrate δ15N and δ18Onitrate, obtained using the denitrifier method.