If the soil becomes saturated, oxygen may become scarce and in anoxic conditions, denitrifying bacteria may convert the nitrate to nitrogen gases (NO, N2O, and N2). Nitrogen converted to these gases becomes unavailable for plant uptake or for surface water contamination. Additionally, saturated soil during the growing season is harmful to many crops like maize that cannot tolerate low oxygen concentrations in the root zone for more than a few days. Surface runoff has the capacity to transport soil, vegetation, and surface applied granular fertilizers from agricultural fields to surface water bodies. If a granular form of nitrogen fertilizer had been applied immediately prior to the event that caused the surface runoff to.
