DENITRIFICATION, DISSIMILATORY REDUCTION OF NITRATE TO AMMONIUM, AND NITRIFICATION IN A BIOTURBATED ESTUARINE SEDIMENT AS MEASURED WITH N-15 AND MICROSENSOR TECHNIQUES

Nitrogen and oxygen transformations were studied in a bioturbated (reworked by animals) estuarine sediment (Norsminde Fjord, Denmark) by using a combination of N-15 isotope (NO3-), specific inhibitor (C2H2), and microsensor (N2O and O2) techniques in a continuous-flow core system. The estuarine water was NO3- rich (125 to 600-mu-M), and NO3- was consistently taken up by the sediment on the four occasions studied. Total NO3- uptake (3.6 to 34.0 mmol of N m-2 day-1) corresponded closely to N2 production (denitrification) during the experimental steady state, which indicated that dissimilatory, as well as assimilatory, NO3- reduction to NH4+ was insignificant. When C2H2 was applied in the flow system, denitrification measured as N2O production was often less (58 to 100%) than the NO3- uptake because of incomplete inhibition of N2O reduction. The NO3- formed by nitrification and not immediately denitrified but released to the overlying water, uncoupled nitrification, was calculated both from (NO3-)-N-15 dilution and from changes in NO3- uptake before and after C2H2 addition. These two approaches gave similar results, with rates ranging between 0 and 8.1 mmol of N m-2 day-1 on the four occasions. Attempts to measure total nitrification activity by the difference between NH4 fluxes before and after C2H2 addition failed because of non-steady-state NH4+ fluxes. The vertical distribution of denitrification and oxygen consumption was studied by use of N2O and O2 microelectrodes. The N2O profiles measured during the experimental steady state were often irregularly shaped, and the buildup of N2O after C2H2 was added was much too fast to be described by a simple diffusion model. Only bioturbation by a dense population of infauna could explain these observations. This was corroborated by the relationship between diffusive and total fluxes, which showed that only 19 to 36 and 29 to 62% of the total O2 uptake and denitrification, respectively, were due to diffusion-reaction processes at the regular sediment surface, excluding animal burrows.