Abstract
Accurately tracing the sources and fate of excess PO43- in waterways is
necessary for sustainable catchment management. The natural abundance
isotopic composition of O in PO43- (δ18OP) is a promising tracer of
point source pollution, but its ability to track diffuse agricultural
pollution is unclear. We tested the hypothesis that δ18OP could
distinguish between agricultural PO43- sources by measuring the
integrated δ18OP composition and P speciation of contrasting inorganic
fertilisers (compound v rock) and soil textures (sand, loam, clay).
δ18OP composition differed between the three soil textures sampled
across six working livestock farms: sandy soils had lower overall δ18OP
values (21 ± 1 ‰) than the loams (23 ± 1 ‰), which corresponded with a
smaller, but more readily leachable, PO43- pool. Fertilisers had greater
δ18OP variability (~8‰) driven by both fertiliser type
and manufacturing year. Upscaling these values showed that ‘agricultural
soil leaching’ δ18OP signatures could span from 18 – 25 ‰, and are
influenced by both fertiliser type and the time between application and
leaching. These findings emphasise the potential of δ18OP to untangle
soil-fertiliser P dynamics under controlled conditions, but that its use
to trace catchment-scale agricultural PO43- losses is limited by
uncertainties in soil biological P cycling and its associated isotopic
fractionation.