Accumulation of Denitrifying Bacteria and Enhancement of Denitrification Activity in Deep Subsurface Soil in Relation to the Geological Profile

Abstract

We investigated the denitrification activity and the distribution of the denitrifying bacteria of a boring survey site located on a volcanic plateau, where the geological profiles from surface to deep subsurface soil at the groundwater level had been examined. There were differences between the water quality in the Ito pyroclastic flow deposit (Shirasu) layer (44.2 to 54.5 m) and that in the Osumi pumice fall deposit (Pumice) layer (below 54.5 m) corresponding to the impermeable layer of unconfirmed groundwater: The nitrate concentration was less than 1 mg kg−1 in the Shirasu layer and more than 10 mg kg−1 in the Pumice layer (Kubota et al. 2005). Denitrification activity decreased from the surface to the loam layer and was enhanced in the Shirasu layer and the Haraigawa clay impermeable layer at a depth of 65 m. It was observed that the highest potential denitrification activity (103 ng-N2O d−1 g−1) in the impermeable layer was almost equal to that of a Kuroboku surface soil with slurry application. Viable counts of the sonic-samples, which indicated the presence of bacterial group with soil particles attached, increased in the impermeable layer. The ratios of viable or denitrifying bacterial counts in the sonic-samples to those in the wash-samples were significantly higher in the impermeable layer than those in the surface layer. These results suggest that the hydrogeological conditions enhanced the denitrification activity in the impermeable layer, the niches of which might be relatively anaerobic and have a sufficient supply of substrates to enable the denitrifying bacterial populations to multiply.