Soil characteristics and redox properties of infiltrating water are determinants of microbial communities at managed aquifer recharge sites

Abstract

Abstract In this study, we conducted a meta-analysis of soil microbial communities at three, pilot-scale field sites simulating shallow infiltration for managed aquifer recharge (MAR). We evaluated shifts in microbial communities after infiltration across site location, through different soils, with and without carbon-rich amendments added to test plots. Our meta-analysis aims to enable more effective MAR basin design by identifying potentially important interactions between soil physical–geochemical parameters and microbial communities across several geographically separate MAR basins. We hypothesized infiltration and carbon amendments would lead to common changes in subsurface microbial communities at multiple field sites but instead found distinct differences. Sites with coarser (mainly sandy) soil had large changes in diversity and taxa abundance, while sites with finer soils had fewer significant changes in genera, despite having the greatest increase in nitrogen cycling. Below test plots amended with a carbon-rich permeable reactive barrier, we observed more nitrate removal and a decrease in genera capable of nitrification. Multivariate statistics determined that the soil texture (a proxy for numerous soil characteristics) was the main determinant of whether the microbial community composition changed because of infiltration. These results suggest that microbial communities in sandy soil with carbon-rich amendments are most impacted by infiltration. Soil composition is a critical parameter that links between microbial communities and nutrient cycling during infiltration and could influence the citing and operation of MAR to benefit water quality and supply.