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Nitrogen and Sulfur Deposition in the Mexico City Air Basin: Impacts on Forest Nutrient Status and Nitrate Levels in Drainage Waters

  • Chapter
Urban Air Pollution and Forests

Part of the book series: Ecological Studies ((ECOLSTUD,volume 156))

Abstract

Based on published emission inventories for metropolitan Mexico City (Bravo 1987; INEGI 1999; Ruiz and Gasca 2002), elevated deposition of nitrogen (N) and sulfur (S) pollutants is expected to occur in forests downwind of Mexico City. Air pollution concentrations are elevated in montane areas to the south-southwest (SSW) of Mexico City because of their proximity to the large urban pollution sources and because of the prevailing northeasterly winds (de Bauer 1991). Fossil fuel consumption, mainly for transportation, is the primary source of atmospheric N pollutants in Mexico City. Sulfurous air pollutants come primarily from industrial activities and burning of fossil fuels (Ruiz and Gasca 2002). There were 128,646 tons of nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions in 1994 compared with 45,468 tons of SO2 (INEGI 1999). Data from the acid precipitation wet deposition network in Mexico City (INEGI 1999) and from a recent throughfall study in an adjacent forested area southwest (SW) of the metropolitan area (Fenn et al. 1999) suggest that sulfate deposition is still greater than nitrate deposition, but similar to the combined deposition of inorganic N forms (nitrate and ammonium).

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Authors
  1. Mark E. Fenn
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  2. L. I. de Bauer
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  3. Karl Zeller
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  4. Abel Quevedo
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  5. Claudio Rodríguez
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  6. Tomás Hernández-Tejeda
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. USDA Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station, Riverside, CA, 92507, USA

    Mark E. Fenn

  2. Especialidad de Agrometeorología Instituto de Recursos Naturales, Colegio de Postgraduados, CP 56230, Montecillo, Mexico

    L. I. de Bauer

  3. SAGARPA Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Forestales, Agrícolas y Pecuarias (INIFAP), Centro Nacional de Investigación Disciplinaria en Conservación y Mejoramiento de Ecosistemas Forestales (CENID-COMEF), CP 04110, Mexico City, Mexico

    Tomás Hernández-Tejeda

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Fenn, M.E., de Bauer, L.I., Zeller, K., Quevedo, A., Rodríguez, C., Hernández-Tejeda, T. (2002). Nitrogen and Sulfur Deposition in the Mexico City Air Basin: Impacts on Forest Nutrient Status and Nitrate Levels in Drainage Waters. In: Fenn, M.E., de Bauer, L.I., Hernández-Tejeda, T. (eds) Urban Air Pollution and Forests. Ecological Studies, vol 156. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-22520-3_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-22520-3_13

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