Sulphate reduction and calcite precipitation in relation to internal euthrophication of groundwater fed alkaline fens

Although in Europe atmospheric deposition of sulphur has decreased considerably over the last decades, groundwater pollution by sulphate may still continue due to pyrite oxidation in the soil as a result of excessive fertilisation. Inflowing groundwater rich in sulphate can change biogeochemical cycling in nutrient-poor wetland ecosystems. Incoming sulphate loads may induce internal eutrophication as well as the accumulation of dissolved sulphide, which is phytotoxic. We, however, argue that upwelling sulphate rich groundwater may also promote the conservation of rare and threatened alkaline fens, since excessive fertilisation and pyrite oxidation also produces acidity, which invokes calcite dissolution, and increased alkalinity and hardness (Ca