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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