Abstract

River floodplains and riparian areas are often considered efficient traps for sediment and sediment-associated nutrients such as nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P). However, few studies have focused on the fate of sediment-bound N and P after deposition on floodplains. In this study, the leaching of N and P from sediment deposited on a Danish-restored floodplain was quantified by placing trapped sediment samples under a rainfall simulator and exposing them to in situ temperatures and precipitation for two months. The nitrate release was 2.72-1600 mu g NO(3)-N.g(-1) DW which corresponded to 0.06-6.42% of the total nitrogen contained in the sediment. Total dissolved phosphorus (TDP) release was 0.44-3.17 mu g P.g(-1) DW, corresponding to 0.021-0.065% of the TP content of the sediment. Our results indicate that N and P release from floodplain sediment subjected to rainfall events is very low, which should be considered when applying floodplain restoration to mitigate the load of N and P to rivers.

Keywords

Phosphorus; nitrogen; floodplain; river; restoration

Published in

Annales de Limnologie - International Journal of Limnology
2011, Volume: 47, number: 3, pages: 231-238
Publisher: CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS

UKÄ Subject classification

Oceanography, Hydrology, Water Resources


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1051/limn/2011040

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/88665