Post by L Roebuck on Oct 16, 2006 17:25:36 GMT -5
Seasonal natural filtration factor found
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark., Oct. 16 (UPI) -- A U.S.-led study has found seasonal rainfall and water load in an intermediate zone in mantled limestone-karst terrain affects how nitrogen is processed.
The University of Arkansas-led researchers say their findings could impact how farmers use organic fertilizers such as poultry litter and help create and maintain more sustainable practices leading to better water quality.
Associate Research Professor of Geosciences Phillip Hays, graduate students Jozef Laincz and Bryon Winston, and Sue Ziegler, professor of earth sciences at the Memorial University of Newfoundland, conducted the study.
Limestone terrain covers about a quarter of the Earth's landmass, providing large quantities of the world's drinkable water. But limestone is vulnerable to contamination. Studies to date have focused attention on the processing of nutrients in the overlying soil zone and on the conduits that form in limestone terrain -- caves and sinkholes where water flows rapidly.
Hays' group studied a third zone, labeled the "epikarst" -- the area between the soil and conduit zones that has a high rock to water ratio and slower water velocities than the conduits.
The researchers are to present during next week's annual meeting of the Geological Society of America in Philadelphia.
Article
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark., Oct. 16 (UPI) -- A U.S.-led study has found seasonal rainfall and water load in an intermediate zone in mantled limestone-karst terrain affects how nitrogen is processed.
The University of Arkansas-led researchers say their findings could impact how farmers use organic fertilizers such as poultry litter and help create and maintain more sustainable practices leading to better water quality.
Associate Research Professor of Geosciences Phillip Hays, graduate students Jozef Laincz and Bryon Winston, and Sue Ziegler, professor of earth sciences at the Memorial University of Newfoundland, conducted the study.
Limestone terrain covers about a quarter of the Earth's landmass, providing large quantities of the world's drinkable water. But limestone is vulnerable to contamination. Studies to date have focused attention on the processing of nutrients in the overlying soil zone and on the conduits that form in limestone terrain -- caves and sinkholes where water flows rapidly.
Hays' group studied a third zone, labeled the "epikarst" -- the area between the soil and conduit zones that has a high rock to water ratio and slower water velocities than the conduits.
The researchers are to present during next week's annual meeting of the Geological Society of America in Philadelphia.
Article
