Abstract
The various sources of total nitrogen (TN) and dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) in the Changjiang catchment and N transport in the Changjiang mouth were estimated. The export fluxes of various form of N were mainly controlled by the river runoff , and the export fluxes of NO3–N, DIN , and TN in 1998 (an especially heavy flood year) were 1438 × 103 t a−1 or 795.1 kg km−2 a−1, 1746 × 103 t a−1 or 965.4 kg km−2 a−1, and 2849 × 103 t a−1 or 1575.3 kg km−2 a−1, respectively. The TN and DIN in the Changjiang River came mainly from precipitation , agricultural nonpoint sources, N lost from fertilizer and soil , and point sources of industrial waste and residential sewage discharge, which were about 56.2 and 62.3%, 15.4 and 18.5%, 17.1 and 14.4%, respectively, of the N outflow at the Changjiang mouth, maximum transport being in the middle reaches. The inorganic N in precipitation in the Changjiang catchment mainly comes from gaseous loss of fertilizer N, N resulting from the increases of population and livestock and from high-temperature combustions of fossil fuels. N from precipitation is the first N source in the Changjiang water and the only direct cause of high content of inorganic N in the Changjiang River and its mouth. The lost N in gaseous form and from agriculture nonpoint sources fertilizer comprised about 60% of annual consumption of fertilizer N in the Changjiang catchment and were key factors controlling the high content of inorganic N in the Changjiang mouth. The fate of the N in precipitation and other N sources in the Changjiang River catchment are also discussed in this section.
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Shen, Z., Liu, Q., Zhang, S., Miao, H., Zhang, P. (2020). Budget and Control of Nitrogen in the Changjiang River Catchment and Its Mouth. In: Shen, Z. (eds) Studies of the Biogeochemistry of Typical Estuaries and Bays in China. Springer Earth System Sciences. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-58169-8_3
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