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Phosphorus loss and its estimation in a small watershed of the Yimeng mountainous area, China

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Abstract

Non-point source pollution is severe in the Yimeng Mountainous Area of China. Few studies have been conducted to identify and predict phosphorus loss at a watershed scale in this region. The objectives of this study were to identify the characteristics of phosphorus loss and further to develop regression models to estimate phosphorus losses of different forms based on the dataset of measured rainfall, runoff, and sediment of 24 rainfall events during the period of 2010–2011 in a typical small watershed from Yimeng Mountainous Area. The results revealed that phosphorus (P) loss differed considerably with phosphorus forms. The dissolved inorganic phosphorus (DIP) was the dominant form of the total dissolved phosphorus (TDP) loss by runoff, accounting for 72 %. The ratio of particulate phosphorus (PP) to total phosphorus (TP) was 65 %, which indicated that most of phosphorus loss was transported by eroded sediment. Similar to soil loss, rainfall properties influenced phosphorus loss greatly and most of the phosphorus loss was produced by only a few heavy storms. The concentrations of different phosphorus forms during a rainfall event varied with similar trends and reached the maxima prior to the peak runoff. Phosphorus losses of different forms were influenced by rainfall kinetic energy, runoff volume, and sediment loss significantly. DIP, TDP, and TP could be predicted with rainfall kinetic energy and runoff volume satisfactorily (NSE ≥ 0.92). PP was estimated with rainfall kinetic energy, runoff volume, and sediment loss of rainfall event well (NSE = 0.90). Further studies are necessary to assess the performance of the developed models under different conditions.

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Abbreviations

DIP:

Dissolved inorganic phosphorus

E :

Rainfall kinetic energy

NSE :

Coefficient of Nash–Sutcliffe model efficiency

PP:

Particulate phosphorus

RV :

Runoff volume

SS:

Sediment

TDP:

Total dissolved phosphorus

TP:

Total phosphorus

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Acknowledgments

Financial assistance for this work was provided by the Hundred Talents Project of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the National natural Foundation (41271287).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming on the Loess Plateau, Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Ministry of Water Resources, Yangling, 712100, Shaanxi, China

    Zhernwei Li & Guanghui Zhang

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Zhernwei Li

  3. School of Geography, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China

    Guanghui Zhang

  4. Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Soil Conservation and Environmental Protection, Linyi University, Linyi, 276005, China

    Xingxiu Yu & Qianjin Liu

  5. USDA-ARS Grazinglands Research Laboratory, El Reno, OK, USA

    X. C. Zhang

Authors
  1. Zhernwei Li
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  2. Guanghui Zhang
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  3. Xingxiu Yu
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  4. Qianjin Liu
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  5. X. C. Zhang
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Correspondence to Guanghui Zhang.

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Li, Z., Zhang, G., Yu, X. et al. Phosphorus loss and its estimation in a small watershed of the Yimeng mountainous area, China. Environ Earth Sci 73, 1205–1216 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-014-3475-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-014-3475-3

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