Spatial variations and distributions of phosphorus and nitrogen in bottom sediments from a typical north-temperate lake, China

Concentrations and vertical distributions of total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP) and their different forms in sediments obtained from nine locations of Lake Dalinouer in September 2008 were analyzed. The results demonstrated that TP in surface sediments ranged from 0.493 to 0.904 g/kg, and inorganic phosphorus was the main fraction of total phosphorus, ranging from 335 to 738 mg/kg. Simultaneously, the autogenetic calcium phosphorus (ACa-P) was the main fraction of inorganic phosphorus, ranging from 145.4 to 543.2 mg/kg. Vertical distribution of different phosphorus forms in different sediment cores was distinguishing, and most of them tended to increase toward the surface sediment, indicated that the phosphorus concentration was related to the humanity with a certain extent. The relationships between TP and occluded phosphorus and ACa-P were significant. Nitrogen in the sediment was composed mainly of organic nitrogen, accounting for grater than 80 % of TN. NO₃ ⁻-N was the dominate fraction of inorganic nitrogen in the surface sediment, ranging between 51 and 346 mg/kg (151.1 ± 104.4 mg/kg), and accounting for between 2.2 and 17.7 % of total sediment nitrogen (6.2 ± 5.6 %). The ratio of organic carbon and TN in sediment was in range of 6.0–25.8 and presented a tendency of lake centre >lake sides, indicating that nitrogen accumulated in the sediments from lake sides came mainly from terrestrial source and nitrogen was mainly autogenetic in lake centre. Ratio of N:P in all sampling sites was below 14, indicated that N was the limiting nutrient for algal growth in this lake.