This grant supports acquisition of an automated nutrient analyzer to support studies of that will benefit from rapid and precise simultaneous determinations of dissolved nutrient concentrations (e.g., NO32-, NO2-,PO43 -, H4SIO2) in natural waters. The instrument will support a breadth of faculty and student research across the School of Earth Sciences and the Department of Geography at The Ohio State University. Examples include: 1) studies of agricultural fertilizer impacts on the nitrogen dynamics of regional rivers in the state of Ohio; 2) studies of the kinetics of chemical weathering and its effects on nutrient limitation in riverine systems of tectonically active high standing oceanic islands; 3) investigations of the effects of climate change on the aquatic chemistry and productivity ofprairie pothole depressional lakes and wetlands of the upper U.S. midcontinent; and 4) studies of the effects of climate change and land use dynamics on the water quality of mountain glacier fed rivers and groundwaters in the central Andes.
