Quantification of Nutrient Fluxes from Sediments of Lake Hulun, China: Implications for Plateau Lake Management

Bo Liu, Xiaofei Zhang (), Yi Tong, Wen Ao, Zenglong Wang, Senlin Zhu and Yanping Wang ()
Additional contact information
Bo Liu: School of Geographical Science, Nantong University, Nantong 226019, China
Xiaofei Zhang: State Environmental Protection Scientific Observation and Research Station for Ecological Environment of Lake Hulun Wetland, Hulun Buir 021000, China
Yi Tong: State Environmental Protection Scientific Observation and Research Station for Ecological Environment of Lake Hulun Wetland, Hulun Buir 021000, China
Wen Ao: State Environmental Protection Scientific Observation and Research Station for Ecological Environment of Lake Hulun Wetland, Hulun Buir 021000, China
Zenglong Wang: State Environmental Protection Scientific Observation and Research Station for Ecological Environment of Lake Hulun Wetland, Hulun Buir 021000, China
Senlin Zhu: College of Hydraulic Science and Engineering, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China
Yanping Wang: School of Geographical Science, Nantong University, Nantong 226019, China

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 11, 1-17

Abstract: Dramatic changes in lake water conditions may induce sensitive feedback in sediments, such as the release of phosphate and ammonia. There is a lack of the understanding of sediment nutrient release fluxes and their responses to various environmental factors in plateau lakes. In this study, nutrient contents in the water and sediment, sediment nutrient release rates, and their responses to various influential factors in a steppe shallow plateau lake, Lake Hulun, China, were investigated. Sediment is a large store of nutrients, with bioavailable phosphorus of 555 mg kg −1 in surface lake sediments. If water became anoxic, sediments will release appreciable amounts of phosphate (2.1 mg P m −2 d −1 ) and ammonia (40.0 mg N m −2 d −1 ), three times greater than those in oxic conditions. Raised temperatures greatly increased sediment phosphate release rates, while the highest temperature (23 °C) slightly decreased ammonia release rates due to strong nitrification. Assuming a whole year of internal loading, ammonia and dissolved reactive phosphorus concentrations in water column would increase by an estimated 0.22 mg N L −1 and 0.01 mg P L −1 , respectively, which is equal to 2 and 0.5 times of their ambient concentrations. A pH increase from 8.4 to 9.4 significantly decreased internal nitrogen and phosphorus release rates by around three times. Overall, dissolved oxygen (DO) and pH had a greater impact on sediment nutrient release from lake sediments compared to temperature, and further increased the eutrophic status in the overlying water when these three parameters varied within the normal seasonal range (temperature: 1.9–23.1 °C, DO: oxic and anoxic; pH: 7.5–9.4). With the periodic low DO and frequency of drought in the future, lake management strategies that mitigate water eutrophication, such as water diversion, may need to be considered.

Keywords: sediment nutrient fluxes; Lake Hulun; influencing factors; water quality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/11/8680/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/11/8680/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:11:p:8680-:d:1157130

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().