Enhanced removal of groundwater-borne nitrate in heterogeneous aquatic sediments

Anthropogenic nitrate loads to rivers and coasts deteriorate coastal water quality. The primary sink for nitrate is denitrification in aquatic sediments. Here I show that nitrate removal rates in upwelling groundwater are as much as 60 times more efficient in heterogeneous than equivalent homogeneous aquatic sediments, even when travel times are the same. Coupled flow and reactive transport simulations were used to quantify the removal of groundwater-borne nitrate in aquatic sediments with sand and silt structures that represent infilled burrows, rip-up clasts, or other core-scale features. In silt structures with greater organic carbon content and microbial biomass, aerobic respiration consumes oxygen, creating localized zones of denitrification that would not otherwise exist in homogeneous sediments. While hot spots of denitrification have previously been shown to form in organic-rich aggregates in soils and sediments, this study is the first to quantify their potentially large influence on groundwater-borne nitrate loads to surface waters.