Implications of phosphorus partitioning at the suspended particle-water interface for lake eutrophication in China's largest freshwater lake, Poyang Lake

Jia Pu; Shengrui Wang; Zhaokui Ni; Yue Wu; Xiaofei Liu; Tao Wu; Huaxin Wu

doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2020.128334

Implications of phosphorus partitioning at the suspended particle-water interface for lake eutrophication in China's largest freshwater lake, Poyang Lake

Chemosphere. 2021 Jan:263:128334. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2020.128334. Epub 2020 Sep 14.

Authors

Jia Pu¹, Shengrui Wang², Zhaokui Ni³, Yue Wu³, Xiaofei Liu¹, Tao Wu¹, Huaxin Wu¹

Affiliations

¹ Engineering Research Center of Ministry of Education on Groundwater Pollution Control and Remediation, College of Water Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China.
² Engineering Research Center of Ministry of Education on Groundwater Pollution Control and Remediation, College of Water Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China; Research Center of Water Science, Advanced Institute of Natural Sciences, Beijing Normal University at Zhuhai, 519087, China; Yunnan Key Laboratory of Pollution Process and Management of Plateau Lake - Watershed, Kunming, Yunnan Province, 650034, China. Electronic address: wangsr@bnu.edu.cn.
³ Engineering Research Center of Ministry of Education on Groundwater Pollution Control and Remediation, College of Water Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China; Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing, 100012, China.

PMID: 33297262
DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2020.128334

Abstract

Nutrient partition, especially for phosphorus (P), has been prominently changed that was caused by variation of river-lake relationship during the post-Three Gorges Reservoir and catchment alternations. Changes in proportion of total particulate phosphorus (TPP) and total dissolved phosphorus (TDP) might accelerate lake eutrophication, but limited attention has been paid to P partition over suspended particle (SP) levels. Data analysis showed that SP concentration presented a positive effect on TPP in wet season and soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP) in dry season, indicating seasonal physical and chemical variations. Based on this phenomenon, we proposed a hypothesis that the SP levels would affect TDP and TPP proportions by partition in aqueous-solid. It was found that using the parabola models to fit the sorption relationships of SRP and TDP (R² > 0.6, p < 0.01), the maximum sorption capacity (Q_max) was 64.54 mg/kg and 60.52 mg/kg at 400 mg/L of SP level, respectively. In addition, the partition coefficients (K_P) of TDP and SRP were logarithmically increased with SP levels, indicating that higher SP levels (>400 mg/L) would hinder the sorption process. Furthermore, enhancing turbulence lead to less sorption of SRP and TDP at high SP levels (>800 mg/L). The sorption of SRP and TDP related to the presence of Fe/Al oxy-hydroxides were enriched in the Fe/Al-P fraction (47% of TP). The findings of this study indicated that the low SP levels would increase P bioavailability for alga and is not conducive for lake eutrophication management.

Keywords: Lake eutrophication; Partition coefficient; Soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP); Total dissolved phosphorus (TDP); Turbulence intensity.

MeSH terms

China
Environmental Monitoring
Eutrophication
Lakes*
Phosphorus / analysis
Water
Water Pollutants, Chemical* / analysis

Substances

Water Pollutants, Chemical
Water
Phosphorus