Analysis of Correlation between Iron and Nitrate Reducation in Wetlands Designed to Intercept Agricultural Tile Drainage
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The Department of Chemistry seeks to provide students with a foundation in the fundamentals and application of chemical theories and processes of the lab. Thus prepared they me pursue careers as teachers, industry supervisors, or research chemists in a variety of domains (governmental, academic, etc).
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The Department of Chemistry was founded in 1880.
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1880-present
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- College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (parent college)
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The Honors project is potentially the most valuable component of an Honors education. Typically Honors students choose to do their projects in their area of study, but some will pick a topic of interest unrelated to their major.
The Honors Program requires that the project be presented at a poster presentation event. Poster presentations are held each semester. Most students present during their senior year, but may do so earlier if their honors project has been completed.
This site presents project descriptions and selected posters for Honors projects completed since the Fall 2015 semester.
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Abstract
Anaerobic microbial communities in soils and sediments are responsible for metabolic processes such as iron (Fe) and nitrate (NO3-) reduction in wetlands, which may be linked to the cycling dynamics of several pollutants. However, the dynamics of Fe reduction in wetlands designed to intercept agricultural drainage water for NO3- reduction are still unknown. This study explored whether NO3- reduction and Fe reduction are segregated over time, due to NO3- reduction being more favored thermodynamically, using daily water samples collected from the inlets and outlets of two wetland research sites in Palo Alto County, Iowa. Samples collected from March to November of 2017 were analyzed for reduced (FeII) and oxidized (FeIII) concentrations by using colorimetric quantification with ferrozine. Nitrate concentrations were analyzed using spectrophotometry. Resulting data showed a clear trend of increased Fe concentrations after a decrease in NO3- concentrations at both the inlets and outlets of these wetlands. This is consistent with thermodynamic predictions that microbes use iron reduction for energy only after nitrate levels have been depleted. Our results suggest that elevated Fe fluxes, and therefore also pollutants linked to Fe cycling, can be predicted by evaluating the dynamics of NO3- fluxes through wetlands.