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Groundwater Quality Changes Resulting from a Surface Bromide Application to a Pasture
Author(s) -
Owens L. B.,
Van Keuren R. W.,
Edwards W. M.
Publication year - 1985
Publication title -
journal of environmental quality
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.888
H-Index - 171
eISSN - 1537-2537
pISSN - 0047-2425
DOI - 10.2134/jeq1985.00472425001400040015x
Subject(s) - lysimeter , groundwater , leaching (pedology) , loam , aquifer , hydrology (agriculture) , environmental science , soil water , water quality , surface water , soil science , geology , environmental engineering , ecology , geotechnical engineering , biology
Potassium bromide was applied at a rate of 168 kg Br − /ha to two 1.1‐ha pasture watersheds in east‐central Ohio to study the impacts on groundwater quality of a one‐time application of a soluble constituent. The watersheds had well‐drained residual silt loam soils and average slopes of about 20%. A nearly impermeable clay layer under the watersheds created a perched aquifer from which groundwater samples could be taken at developed springs. Three monolith, grassed lysimeters having soil profiles similar to the watersheds also received the Br −1 treatment. The lysimeters, which were 8 m 2 in surface area and had a depth of 2.4 m, had shorter leaching pathways than the watersheds and showed peak Br −1 concentrations in percolation (24.0 mg/L maximum peak) occurring 52–78 weeks following the Br −1 application. The Br −1 concentration in the groundwater from the watersheds had lower peaks (9.2 mg/L maximum peak) but occurred 84 to 104 weeks after the Br −1 application. Because of variable leaching pathway lengths, including pathways much longer than those in the lysimeters, the watershed groundwater Br −1 applications had shown no meaningful decrease by 2 yrs after the Br −1 application. A one‐time application of a soluble, nondegradable chemical constituent can have a multi‐year influence on groundwater quality.