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Assessing groundwater denitrification spatially is the key to targeted agricultural nitrogen regulation

Authors :
Birgitte Hansen
Jens Aamand
Gitte Blicher-Mathiesen
Anders V. Christiansen
Niels Claes
Tommy Dalgaard
Rasmus R. Frederiksen
Brian H. Jacobsen
Rasmus Jakobsen
Anders Kallesøe
Hyojin Kim
Julian Koch
Ingelise Møller
Rasmus B. Madsen
Stefan Schaper
Peter B. E. Sandersen
Denitza D. Voutchkova
Irene Wiborg
Source :
Scientific Reports, Vol 14, Iss 1, Pp 1-13 (2024)
Publication Year :
2024
Publisher :
Nature Portfolio, 2024.

Abstract

Abstract Globally, food production for an ever-growing population is a well-known threat to the environment due to losses of excess reactive nitrogen (N) from agriculture. Since the 1980s, many countries of the Global North, such as Denmark, have successfully combatted N pollution in the aquatic environment by regulation and introduction of national agricultural one-size-fits-all mitigation measures. Despite this success, further reduction of the N load is required to meet the EU water directives demands, and implementation of additional targeted N regulation of agriculture has scientifically and politically been found to be a way forward. In this paper, we present a comprehensive concept to make future targeted N regulation successful environmentally and economically. The concept focus is on how and where to establish detailed maps of the groundwater denitrification potential (N retention) in areas, such as Denmark, covered by Quaternary deposits. Quaternary deposits are abundant in many parts of the world, and often feature very complex geological and geochemical architectures. We show that this subsurface complexity results in large local differences in groundwater N retention. Prioritization of the most complex areas for implementation of the new concept can be a cost-efficient way to achieve lower N impact on the aquatic environment.

Subjects

Subjects :
Medicine
Science

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
20452322
Volume :
14
Issue :
1
Database :
Directory of Open Access Journals
Journal :
Scientific Reports
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
edsdoj.465332bd5ff436bb58336f85fd87d0e
Document Type :
article
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-55984-9