Increase in δ15N of Nitrate through Kinetic Isotope Fractionation Associated with Denitrification in Soil

  • Choi, Woo-Jung (School of Agricultural Biotechnology, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Seoul National University) ;
  • Lee, Sang-Mo (National Instrumentation Center for Environmental Management, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Seoul National University) ;
  • Yoo, Sun-Ho (School of Agricultural Biotechnology, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Seoul National University)
  • 투고 : 2001.08.06
  • 발행 : 2001.09.30

초록

To observe the changes in isotopic composition (${\delta}^{15}N$) of $NO_3{^-}$ during denitrification, an incubation experiment using soil treated with nitrification inhibitor (2-chloro-6-trichloromethyl-pyridine) under water-saturated condition was conducted for 153 h. The $NO_3-N$ concentration decreased from 73.3 to $20.6mg\;kg^{-1}$ during the incubation period, with denitrification rate constant of $0.00905h^{-1}$, and ${\delta}^{15}N$ values of $NO_3-N$ increased from +0.9 to +25.5‰ with decreasing the $NO_3-N$ concentration. The increase in the ${\delta}^{15}N$ values of $NO_3-N$ is due to kinetic isotope fractionation, which always results in $^{15}N$ enrichment of the substrate. The isotopic fractionation factor calculated in this study was 1.0196, an indication that 1.96% more $^{14}NO_3{^-}$ reacted at a given time interval than a comparable number of $^{15}NO_3{^-}$. The ${\delta}^{15}N$ values measured through the incubation study showed a good agreement with the results calculated from the Fochts isotope fractionation model. Our results suggest that when the ${\delta}^{15}N$ of $NO_3{^-}$ is used for tracing the fate of N, the kinetic isotope fractionation associated with denitrification must be taken into consideration.

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