A nitrogen budget of the Changjiang river catchment
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 26, 2026

Continuous Instream Monitoring of Nutrients and Sediment in Agricultural Watersheds
Published on: September 26, 2017
Zhiliang Shen1, Qun Liu, Shumei Zhang
1Kay Laboratory of Marine Ecology and Environmental Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, PR China. zhlshen@ms.qdio.ac.cn
Abstract:
Based on 1997-1998 field investigations in the Changjiang river mouth, rain sampling from the river's upper reaches to the mouth, historical data, and relevant literature, the various sources of Total Nitrogen (TN) and Dissolved Inorganic Nitrogen (DIN) in the Changjiang river catchment and N transport in the Changjiang river mouth were estimated. The export fluxes of various form of N were mainly controlled by the river runoff, and the export fluxes of NO3-N, DIN and TN in 1998 (an especially heavy flood year) were 1438 10(3) tonnes (t) yr(-1) or 795.1 kg km(-2) yr(-1), 1746 10(3) t yr(-1) or 965.4 kg km(-2) yr(-1) and 2849 10(3) t yr(-1) or 1575.3 kg km(-2) yr(-1), respectively. The TN and DIN in the Changjiang river came mainly from precipitation, agricultural nonpoint sources, N lost from fertilizer and soil, and point sources of industrial waste and residential sewage discharge, which were about 56.2% and 62.3%, 15.4% and 18.5%, 17.1% and 14.4%, respectively, of the N outflow at the Changjiang river mouth; maximum transport being in the middle reaches.
Related Concept Videos
Energy Budgets and Reproductive Strategies
The Nitrogen Cycle
Inorganic Nitrogen Assimilation
Overview of Nitrogen Metabolism
The largest pool of nitrogen available in the terrestrial ecosystem is gaseous nitrogen (N2) from the air, but this nitrogen...
Energy Considerations in Open Channel Flow
Quality of Water
