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Ammonia nitrogen adsorption and release characteristics of surface sediments in Dianchi Lake, China

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Abstract

To determine the ammonia nitrogen adsorption and release characteristics of surface sediments in Dianchi Lake, 36 surface sediment (0–10 cm) samples were collected in 2013. Results showed that compared with other lakes in China (e.g. Erhai Lake and Taihu Lake), Dianchi Lake had high levels of ammonia nitrogen (NH4 +–N) adsorption capacity, release rate and release capacity. The ammonia nitrogen release risk of Dianchi sediments was relatively high. Comparison of the equilibrium ammonium concentration (ENC 0) in surface sediments and the ammonium contents in the overlying water of Dianchi Lake indicated that ENC 0 was high for most lake sections. Therefore, the sediments of Dianchi Lake would be a pollution source, and ammonia nitrogen release risk was high because the surface sediments of Dianchi Lake were heavily contaminated with nitrogen. The total nitrogen (TN) and NH4 +–N contents of the sediments of Dianchi Lake greatly influenced the ammonia nitrogen adsorption–release process. Aside from TN, nitrogen fractions should also be studied when assessing pollutant release risk from lake sediments. NH4 +–N was the main fraction of nitrogen released from sediments, which was highly significant when evaluating sedimentary release capacity. The sedimentary release capacity and release potential of nitrogen provided important information to assess release risks.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the National Major Science and Technology Program for Water Pollution Control and Treatment (No. 2012ZX07102). The authors are grateful to all the group members for their help in the research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Water Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, People’s Republic of China

    Jia He

  2. Kunming Institute of Environmental Science, Kunming, 650032, Yunnan, People’s Republic of China

    Jia He, Weiming Deng, Chunyu Chen, Xiaomei Xu & Xue Wu

  3. Chinese Research Academy of Environment Sciences, Beijing, 100012, People’s Republic of China

    Shengrui Wang & Wenbin Liu

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  1. Jia He
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  2. Weiming Deng
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  3. Chunyu Chen
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  4. Xiaomei Xu
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  6. Wenbin Liu
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  7. Xue Wu
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Correspondence to Xiaomei Xu.

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He, J., Deng, W., Chen, C. et al. Ammonia nitrogen adsorption and release characteristics of surface sediments in Dianchi Lake, China. Environ Earth Sci 74, 3917–3927 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-015-4724-9

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