INFILTRATION MECHANISMS RELATED TO AGRICULTURAL WASTE TRANSPORT THROUGH THE SOIL MANTLE TO KARST AQUIFERS OF SOUTHERN INDIANA, USA

A hydrogeological study was conducted, during the 1991-1992 water year, in the clay-soil mantled portion of a limestone terrain in southern Indiana. The purpose of the study was to investigate the modes of soil-water infiltration contributing to rapid transport of nitrate to the saturated zone. The I-year-cycle profiles of nitrate concentration vs. time show a consistent increase of nitrate at various depths in the unsaturated zone during the period of investigation. The increase of nitrate in soil water is attributed to the rapid flushing of the inorganic fertilizers from the fields after the area received sufficient rainfall in late fall. The investigation also showed a major movement of nitrate in quick pulses through the unsaturated zone, rather than a slow uniform recharge, immediately after a major storm event. The asymmetric profiles of nitrate concentration vs. depth point to the existence of preferential flow through macropores in the clay-soil mantle above the bedrock. Soil-water transport between storm events is by matrix type flow. Nitrogen isotopes were analyzed for representative groundwater samples collected before and immediately after fertilization of fields in the summer, 1991. The delta(15)N values of the samples did not show any major shift in nitrate sources between the sampling periods. The summer of 1991 was extremely dry prohibiting vertical transport of nitrate from the fields to the groundwater system. Any change in nitrate concentration in groundwater during this time is attributed to the mixing through lateral flow within the aquifer.