Related Experiment Video
Updated: Nov 12, 2025

Vegetated Treatment Systems for Removing Contaminants Associated with Surface Water Toxicity in Agriculture and Urban Runoff
Published on: May 15, 2017
Migration and transformation of nitrogen in sediment-water system within storm sewers
Cuiyun Liu1, Yuting Yang2, Jingqin Zhou2
1College of Urban Construction, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing, 211800, China; Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Industrial Water-Conservation & Emission Reduction, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing, 211800, China.
Abstract:
In the sediment-water system of storm sewers (e.g., sediments, interstitial water, and the water column), the migration of nitrogen and its biological transformation with different dissolved oxygen conditions were investigated. Results showed that in an aerobic segment, γ-proteobacteria, α-proteobacteria, and nitrospira, which are aerobic, grew actively in water column and interstitial water through ammonification and nitrification. In anoxic segment, ammonification depended mainly on clostridia, whereas nitrification was inhibited. Thus, after 20 days, the concentration of NH4+-N in the aerobic segment became noticeably lower (5.97 mg/L) than that in the anoxic segment (18.09 mg/L). In sediments, the biological transformation of organic nitrogen in the anoxic environment was more complete, resulting in elevating amino acid nitrogen and NH4+-N in the anoxic segment compared to the aerobic segment. Furthermore, the concentration gradient of NH4+-N between interstitial water and water column in aerobic and anoxic segments, thereby causing NH4+-N to migrate from interstitial water to the water column. In the sediment-water system, the different forms of nitrogen changes were the common result of biological transformation and material migration.
Related Concept Videos
The Nitrogen Cycle
Overview of Nitrogen Metabolism
The largest pool of nitrogen available in the terrestrial ecosystem is gaseous nitrogen (N2) from the air, but this...
Inorganic Nitrogen Assimilation
Metabolism of Chemolithotrophs
Comparative Excretory Systems
Conservation of Mass in Moving, Nondeforming Control Volume
In the context of a detention basin, the conservation of mass states that the total mass of water entering the basin must equal the mass leaving the basin plus any accumulation of...

