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Spiralling curve characterization of nitrate–nitrogen absorption in a channel at a rural–urban ecotone in Northeast China

Environmental Science and Pollution Research volume 27, pages 34692–34701 (2020)Cite this article

Abstract

To determine the dynamic change characteristics of NO3–N in a rural–urban ecotone channel, five tracer tests were conducted in the Dongda Channel in the suburbs of Changchuan city, Jilin province, China, from October 2016 to April 2017. NaBr was used as conservative tracer and KNO3 served as an added nutritive salt. The kinetic features of NO3–N were simulated via the addition of tracers and by employing the spiralling curve characterization approach and the Michaelis–Menten (M–M) equation. The average absorption length of NO3−–N background concentration (Sw-amb) is 199 m, which is much less than the discharge channel length (2.5 km), thereby suggesting that the channel has a strong NO3–N retention potential. Moreover, the M–M equation fits well the kinetic features of NO3–N adsorption. The average maximum absorption rate and subsaturation constant are 631 μg (m2 s)−1 and 1.46 mg L−1, respectively. The correlation analysis reveals that Sw-amb and NO3−–N absorption rates (NO3–Namb) are significantly negatively correlated whereas the absorption rates of NO3−–N background concentration (Uamb) and NO3–Namb are significantly positively correlated. The other spiralling indices show faint correlations with the background concentration of NO3–N. Meanwhile, the hydrological factors slightly influence NO3–N retention, but the geomorphic features of the channel, including (width residual) Фw and (cross-sectional area residual) ФA, have significant correlations with most spiralling indices, thereby highlighting the relatively important roles of geomorphic features in NO3–N retention.

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Funding

This project was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China [grant number 2016YFD0800101], Natural Science Foundation of Jilin Province, China [grant number 20180101086JC], and National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 40871005] and this project was also supported by the ‘Simulation and regulation of nitrogen and phosphorus transfer in small drainage basins on the periphery of urban areas’ research program (2016-541), which is funded by the Thirteenth Five-Year Scientific Research Program of the Jilin Province Department of Education.

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  1. College of Tourism and Geographic Sciences, Jilin Normal University, Siping, Jilin, People’s Republic of China

    Yujia Song

  2. Northeast Coal Industry Institute of Environmental Protection, Changchun, Jilin, People’s Republic of China

    Shoufa Song

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  1. Yujia Song
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  2. Shoufa Song
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Correspondence to Yujia Song.

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Song, Y., Song, S. Spiralling curve characterization of nitrate–nitrogen absorption in a channel at a rural–urban ecotone in Northeast China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27, 34692–34701 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-06354-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-06354-w

Keywords

  • Nitrate–nitrogen absorption
  • Rural–urban ecotone
  • Channel
  • Michaelis–Menten