Pedosphere 17(2): 200--208, 2007
ISSN 1002-0160/CN 32-1315/P
©2007 Soil Science Society of China
Published by Elsevier B.V. and Science Press
| Assessment of nitrogen pollutant sources in surface waters of Taihu Lake region |
XIE Ying-Xin1,2 , XIONG Zheng-Qin1,3, XING Guang-Xi1, SUN Guo-Qing1 and ZHU Zhao-Liang1 |
1 State Key Laboratory of Soil and Sustainable Agriculture, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008 (China). E-mail: xieyingxin@tom.com;
2 National Engineering Research Center for Wheat, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450002 (China);
3 Department of Physics, Portland State University, Portland, Oregon 97207 (USA) |
| ABSTRACT |
| The nitrogen (N) pollution status of the 12 most important rivers in Changshu, Taihu Lake region was investigated. Water samples were collected from depths of 0.5-1.0 m with the aid of the global positioning system (GPS). The seasonal variations in the concentrations of different N components in the rivers were measured. Using tension-free monolith lysimeters and 15N-labeled fertilizer, field experiments were carried out in this region to determine variations of 15N abundance of NO3- in the leachate during the rice and wheat growing seasons, respectively. Results showed that the main source of N pollution of surface waters in the Taihu Lake region was not the N fertilizer applied in the farmland but the urban domestic sewage and rural human and animal excreta directly discharged into the water bodies without treatment. Atmospheric dry and wet N deposition was another evident source of N pollutant of the surface waters. In conclusion, it would not be correct to attribute the N applied to farmlands as the source of N pollution of the surface waters in this region. |
| Key Words: atmospheric dry and wet N deposition, 15N-labeled fertilizer, N pollution sources in surface waters, N runoff from the farmland, Taihu Lake region |
| Citation: Xie, Y. X., Xiong, Z. Q., Xing, G. X., Sun, G. Q. and Zhu, Z. L. 2007. Assessment of nitrogen pollutant sources in surface waters of Taihu Lake region. Pedosphere. 17(2): 200-208. |
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