Temporal Variation in Nitrate and Nutrient Cations in Drainage Waters from a Deciduous Forest

Temporal variations in soil solution and stream chemistry were examined in 1984 in an undisturbed sugar maple‐yellow birch ( Acer saccharum Marsh.‐ Betula alleghaniensis Britton) forest in the Turkey Lakes Watershed, Ontario. Nitrate was the dominant anion associated with cation depletion from soil. Nitrogen in precipitation was less important than soil N in the determination of solution chemistry. Growing‐season increases in NH + 4 and NO − 3 in soil solution were greatest in the Oe horizon and decreased with depth. Nitrate concentrations in mineral soil solution and streamwater were highest during the dormant period and peaked at the start of spring snowmelt. Although NO − 3 concentrations in streamwater were positively correlated ( r = 0.7–0.9) with NO − 3 and Ca 2+ concentrations in mineral soil solution during the dormant period, NO − 3 contributed far less to cation fluxes in streamwater than HCO − 3 or SO 2− 4 .