Nitrate dynamic and pathways in fractured limestone aquifers : From soil leaching to groundwater discharge in surface water

Fractured – karstified limestone aquifers constitute important, but vulnerable groundwater reservoirs in many areas across the World. Such carbonate systems are highly heterogeneous leading to a high spatial and temporal variability of fluxes across the soil – vadose zone – groundwater – surface water continuum. One of the main challenges worldwide is to protect such groundwater bodies from diffuse pollutions, in particular agricultural chemicals such as nitrate. To face such problems and to propose adequate pollution mitigation scenarios, the objective here was to better understand and quantify nitrate dynamics and pathways in the subsurface and at the groundwater – surface water interface.
The transfer of nitrate was investigated in different ways such as monitoring of concentrations in both groundwater and surface water, tracer experiments in the unsaturated – saturated continuum and regional investigations on groundwater chemistry including stable isotopes of nitrate and other compounds. Results show that nitrate concentrations are relatively stable both in groundwater and surface water during the low flow period (i.e. from spring to autumn). A temporary but significant increase in nitrate concentration is observed in groundwater and rivers during the winter, related to release of residual nitrate from agricultural soils driven by infiltration water. In period of high precipitations and runoff, dilution is measured in the river. Monitoring and tracer test results also highlight the fact that the migration of dissolved contaminants across the unsaturated zone of limestone rocks is very fast and governed by gravitational flows. In the rivers, macroinvertebrates and benthic diatoms were sampled at several sites to assess ecological status and structural and functional response to alteration of water quality (nutrient enrichment) and quantity (current velocity and stream habitats). Diatom indices and community structure indicated good to very good status in both studied streams, indicating that elevated nitrate concentration have no detectable effect on biological quality of the surface waters.
The combination of all these results allows developing a detailed conceptual model of the dynamics of nitrate (and other agricultural contaminants) in fractured / karstified limestone aquifers, with improved estimates of nitrate trends and dynamics in both groundwater and rivers.