RESEARCH FOR

Andrius Litvinaitis,
Lina Bagdžiūnaitė-Litvinaitienė
period of time due to denitrification (Denver et al.,
2009).
While migrating, nitrogen compounds can pollute
larger water bodies (Bagdžiūnaitė-Litvinaitienė, 2005;
Lebedynets et al., 2005), thus explicit regulation on
use and storage of nitrogen is defined in the areas of
agriculture and environmental protection.
This research aims to ascertain consistent patterns
in migration of biogenic substances within the aeration
zone of sand sediments in banks of Lithuanian rivers.
materials and methods
Two sandy river banks of basins with typical
sand lithology structure were chosen for the research
(Fig. 1). These two basins were chosen subsequently
for analysis of lithology structures of 17 basins
of Lithuanian rivers (Litvinaitis, 2010; 2011a).
The lithologic factor of basins was estimated and
ReseaRch foR RuRal Development 2012
RESEARCH OF NUTRIENTS MIGRATION OF SANDY
SEDIMENT AERATION ZONE OF THE RIVER BANK BUFFER AREA
Figure 1. Basins of studied rivers.
research sites were chosen with the help of maps of
Lithuanian Quaternary and rivers (M1:50000) and
ArcGis software. Later, research sites were specified
according to data of core samples taken from river
banks.
The authors state that the main migration of
nitrogen and phosphorus occurs by water, which
filters through sediments; meanwhile transformations
depend on the amount of oxygen and acidity within
the environment. All these parameters can be assessed
in a borehole. The lysimetric type of a borehole was
chosen for the empiric groundwater level and quality
analyses. This choice was influenced by the following
reasons:
1) during the installation process, the deformation
of the natural status of sediments and
underground water is minimal;
Figure 2. Situation of lysimetric boreholes on the bank of the river.
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