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Understanding Phosphorus Mobility and Bioavailability in the Hyporheic Zone of a Chalk Stream

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Abstract

This paper investigates the changes in bioavailable phosphorus (P) within the hyporheic zone of a groundwater-dominated chalk stream. In this study, tangential flow fractionation is used to investigate P associations with different size fractions in the hyporheic zone, groundwater and surface water. P speciation is similar for the river and the chalk aquifer beneath the hyporheic zone, with ‘dissolved’ P (<10 kDa) accounting for ~90% of the P in the river and >90% in the deep groundwaters. Within the hyporheic zone, the proportion of ‘colloidal’ (<0.45 μm and >10 kDa) and ‘particulate’ (>0.45 μm) P is higher than in either the groundwater or the surface water, accounting for ~30% of total P. Our results suggest that zones of interaction within the sand and gravel deposits directly beneath and adjacent to river systems generate colloidal and particulate forms of fulvic-like organic material and regulate bioavailable forms of P, perhaps through co-precipitation with CaCO3. While chalk aquifers provide some degree of protection to surface water ecosystems through physiochemical processes of P removal, where flow is maintained by groundwater, ecologically significant P concentrations (20–30 μg/L) are still present in the groundwater and are an important source of bioavailable P during baseflow conditions. The nutrient storage capacity of the hyporheic zone and the water residence times of this dynamic system are largely unknown and warrant further investigation.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the analytical work carried out by H. Wickham (CEH) and thank P. Naden and G. H. Old (CEH) for the use of the fluorescence spectrometer. The authors thank Debbie Allen (BGS) for assistance in carrying out fieldwork at Westbrook Farm. The work was funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). This paper is published with the permission of the Executive Director, British Geological Survey (NERC).

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  1. British Geological Survey, Maclean Building, Wallingford, Oxfordshire, OX10 8BB, UK

    Dan J. Lapworth & Daren C. Gooddy

  2. Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Maclean Building, Wallingford, Oxfordshire, OX10 8BB, UK

    Helen P. Jarvie

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  1. Dan J. Lapworth
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Lapworth, D.J., Gooddy, D.C. & Jarvie, H.P. Understanding Phosphorus Mobility and Bioavailability in the Hyporheic Zone of a Chalk Stream. Water Air Soil Pollut 218, 213–226 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-010-0636-1

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