Resolving the influence of nitrogen abundances on sediment organic matter in macrophyte-dominated lakes, using fluorescence spectroscopy

A controlled experiment was designed to resolve the influence of nitrogen abundance on sediment organic matters in macrophyte-dominated lakes using fluorescence analysis.Macrophyte biomass showed coincident growth trends with time, but different variation rates with nitrogen treatment. All plant growth indexes with nitrogen addition（N, NH4Cl100, 200, 400 mg/kg, respectively） were lower than those of the control group. Four humiclike components, two autochthonous tryptophan-like components, and one autochthonous tyrosine-like component were identified using the parallel factor analysis model. The results suggested that the relative component changes of fluorescence in the colonized sediments were in direct relation to the change of root biomass with time. In the experiment, the root formation parameters of the plants studied were significantly affected by adding N in sediments, which may be related to the reason that the root growth was affected by N addition.Adding a low concentration of N to sediments can play a part in supplying nutrients to the plants. However, the intensive uptake of NH4^＋may result in an increase in the intracellular concentration of ammonia, which is highly toxic to the plant cells. Hence, our experiment results manifested that organic matter cycling in the macrophyte-dominated sediment was influenced by nitrogen enrichment through influencing vegetation and relevant microbial activity.

Arsenic,Iron and Organic Matter in Quaternary Aquifer Sediments from Western Hetao Basin,Inner Mongolia

To investigate geochemical and mineralogical features of sediments from aquifers containing high levels of dissolved arsenic（As） in western Hetao Basin, Inner Mongolia, sediment samples were collected for XRD（X-ray diffraction）, amorphous Fe/Mn oxides, and humic/fulvic acid analyses, in addition to As determination. In the study area, the total As contents in the sediments were in the range 5.3–28.8 mg/kg; while that associated with humic substances in the range 4–9 mg/kg, accounting for 26%–47% of the total As. The results of XRD analysis suggest that clay and silt contain certain small amounts of iron oxides minerals, such as ferrihydrite, hematite and goethite, whereas have higher As and Fe_2O_3 contents. Up to one third of As in the sediments could be extracted by ammonium oxalate, and high As contents were generally found in organic-rich clay or silty clay samples with high FA/HA ratio. As is strongly associated with humic substances and Fe oxyhydroxides, which may be the major sink and source of As in the aquifer sediments.

Organic matter and pH affect the analysis efficiency of (31)P-NMR

Solution ^（31）P nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy（ ^（31）P-NMR） is a useful method to analyze organic phosphorus（Po）, but a general procedure for the analysis method is lacking.The authors used solution ^（31）P-NMR, which was found to be an effective method for analysis of Po in Haihe River sediment, to analyze the Po in the surface sediment in Eastern China at the regional scale, and found that the Na OH-ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid（EDTA）extraction rate was affected by environmental factors. At the regional scale, the extraction rate showed a positive relationship with loss on ignition, when the extraction rate was lower than 60%. The extraction rate had no relationship with the loss on ignition when the extraction rate was higher than 60%. The extraction rate showed a negative relationship with p H, which means that the extraction rate was higher in acidic sediment and lower in alkaline sediment. The ratio of TC/TN（the ratio of total carbon to total nitrogen） was considered to represent the origin of organic matter in the sediment. The extraction rate was high when the TC/TN ratio was lower than 20, meanwhile the extraction rate decreased as the TC/TN ratio increased. The results show that the origin of organic matter in sediment significantly affects the Na OH-EDTA extraction rate. This study will give theoretical support for building an effective and general solution ^（31）P-NMR analysis method.