Isotopic studies of nitrates – a short review

Abstract

Nitrogen is an essential element for life. One of its available forms are nitrates - the compounds playing a key role in the biogeochemical N cycle. However, excessive amounts of nitrates may be harmful to organisms and the environment, therefore in recent years the emphasis is on continuous monitoring of quality of consumed water. Nitrates from different sources have wide, but different ranges δ 15 N and δ 18 O. Also researchers observed typical changes in both delta values induced by biological processes and in the case of mixing water with anthropogenic nitrates. This is a reason why the isotopic analysis are often used to identify the source of contamination in a reservoir or to quantitatively describe the processes occurring in an ecosystem. In this review article, we present a model of the global nitrogen cycle, along with the latest data on the disturbances caused by human activity. We describe the processes occurring in the N cycle and biogeochemical mechanisms, which modify the nitrogen isotopic composition in their compounds. We also present a short description of analytical techniques utilized for studying isotopic compositions of nitrates. In addition, we discussed the methods for extraction and preparation of nitrates from freshwater and ocean water, by determining the δ 15 N, δ 18 O and δ 17 O (or Δ 17 O) values. The final part is a description of applications of developed techniques for environmental research.