Climate change impacts the subsurface transport of atrazine and estrone originating from agricultural production activities

Authors

Renys Enrique Barrios, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Simin Akbariyeh, Northern Arizona UniversityFollow
Chuyang Liu, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Khalid Muzamil Gani, Durban University of Technology
Margarita T. Kovalchuk, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Xu Li, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow
Yusong Li, University of Nebraska–LincolnFollow
Daniel D. Snow, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Zhenghong Tang, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow
John Gates, The Climate Corporation, San Francisco, CA
Shannon L. Bartelt-Hunt, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

6-18-2020

Citation

Published in Environmental Pollution 265 (2020) 115024

doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2020.115024

Comments

Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. Used by permission.

Abstract

Climate change will impact soil properties such as soil moisture, organic carbon and temperature and changes in these properties will influence the sorption, biodegradation and leaching of trace organic contaminants to groundwater. In this study, we conducted a modeling case study to evaluate atrazine and estrone transport in the subsurface under current and future climate conditions at a field site in central Nebraska. According to the modeling results, in the future, enhanced evapotranspiration and increased average air temperature may cause drier soil conditions, which consequently reduces the biodegradation of atrazine and estrone in the water phase. On the other hand, greater transpiration rates lead to greater root solute uptake which may decrease the concentration of atrazine and estrone in the soil profile. Another consequence of future climate is that the infiltration and leaching rates for both atrazine and estrone may be lower under future climate scenarios. Reduced infiltration of trace organic compounds may indicate that lower trace organic concentrations in groundwater may occur under future climate scenarios.