Nitrate pollution in groundwater has become a global concern. One of the most important issues in controlling the nitrate pollution of groundwater is to identify the pollution source quickly and accurately. In this review, we firstly summarized the isotopic background values of potential sources of nitrate pollution in groundwater in 17 provinces (cities, autonomous regions) and 29 study areas in China, which could provide the fundamental database for subsequent research. Secondly, we reviewed the research progress of nitrate isotopes combined with multiple tracers for tracing nitrate in groundwater, and discussed their applicable conditions, advantages, and disadvantages. We found that halides and microorganisms combined with nitrate isotopes could accurately trace the pollution sources of domestic sewage, excrement and agricultural activities. The combination of Δ17O and nitrate isotopes could effectively distinguish the source of atmospheric deposition of nitrate in groundwater. The combination of groundwater age and nitrate isotopes could further determine the time scale of nitrate pollution. In addition, we summarized the application cases and compared the characteristics of mass balance mixing model, IsoSource model, Bayesian isotope mixing model, and EMMTE model for quantitative identification of nitrate pollution in groundwater. For the complexity and concealment of groundwater pollution sources, the coupling of nitrate isotopes with other chemical and biological tracing methods, as well as the application of nitrate isotope quantitative models, are effective tools for reliably identifying groundwater nitrate sources and transformation processes.
地下水硝酸盐污染是全球范围内关注的热点,如何快速且准确地识别污染源是地下水硝酸盐污染防治中的重要问题之一。通过分析国内外相关研究,本文梳理了我国17个省(市、自治区)、29个研究区地下水硝酸盐污染潜在来源的同位素背景值,以期为后续研究提供基础数据。同时,总结了硝酸盐同位素耦合多示踪剂溯源地下水硝酸盐污染的研究进展,分析了不同示踪剂的适用条件及优缺点,发现卤化物、微生物结合硝酸盐同位素可以准确示踪生活污水、粪便、农业活动等人为污染来源;Δ17O结合硝酸盐同位素可有效区分地下水中硝酸盐的大气沉降来源;地下水年龄和氮氧同位素的结合使用可以进一步判断硝酸盐污染的时间尺度。此外,本文总结了质量平衡混合模型、IsoSource模型、贝叶斯同位素混合模型、EMMTE模型在地下水硝酸盐污染定量识别中的应用案例,并对各模型特点进行了分析比较。由于地下水污染来源的复杂性和隐蔽性,硝酸盐同位素耦合其他化学和生物等示踪方法,以及应用硝酸盐同位素定量分析模型,是可靠识别地下水硝酸盐来源和转化过程的有效工具。.