Abstract
The main reasons for the high content of inorganic N and its increase by several times in the Changjiang River and its mouth during the last 40 years were analysed in this work. The inorganic N in precipitation in the Changjiang River 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 River 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 non-point sources fertilizer comprised about 60% of annual consumption of fertilizer N in the Changjiang River catchment and were key factors controlling the high content of inorganic N in the Changjiang River mouth. The fate of the N in precipitation and other N sources in the Changjiang River catchment are also discussed in this paper.
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Project No. 49876020 supported by NSFC and KZ952-S1-421 from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and also supported by SX(97)-11-4.
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Zhiliang, S. Is precipitation the dominant controlling factor of high inorganic nitrogen content in the Changjiang River and its mouth?. Chin. J. Ocean. Limnol. 21, 368–376 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02860433
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02860433