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Divergent patterns of soil phosphorus discharge from water-level fluctuation zone after full impoundment of Three Gorges Reservoir, China

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Abstract

Phosphorus (P) discharged from soils in the water-level fluctuation (WLF) zone becomes increasingly important to the water quality control of the Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR) as the decrease in P input from upstream reaches and point-source pollution. To investigate the amount of soil P discharge from the WLF zone since the full impoundment of the TGR in 2010, soil and sediment samples were collected along the altitudinal gradients (140, 150, 160, 170, and 180 m above sea level) in three transects in the middle reaches of the TGR. Soil P composition was determined by a sequential extraction procedure. Different amounts of P discharge from the WLF zone were found among three soil types because of their difference in the initial P content before impoundment, with an order of yellow earth (171.1 g m−2), fluvo-aquic soil (141.7 g m−2), and purple soil (73.8 g m−2). An altitudinal pattern of soil P discharge was observed with the maximum at the 170-m sites. The downward transport of exchangeable P and clay-bound P with runoff was the major path of the soil P discharge at the 170-m sites with a slope gradient > 15°. Considerable P discharge with erosion at the upper section of the WLF zone was facilitated by the longer exposure period compared with that at bottom section (150-m sites) because of the annual anti-seasonal impoundment-exposure cycles of the TGR. The transformation of Al/Fe-P and subsequent release to water was a main mechanism of the soil P discharge during the impoundment period. The altitudinal pattern of P discharge was a result of joint effects of slope gradient, soil P forms, and the anti-seasonal hydrological regime of the TGR. The results highlight the critical role of the upper section (165–175 m) in controlling the P output from the WLF zone into the water of the TGR.

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41630751), the 135 Strategic Program of the Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment, CAS (Grant No. SDS-135-1702), the Start-up Funds for Doctoral Research of China West Normal University (Grant No. 412654), the CAS “Light of West China” Program, and the China Scholarship Council.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Mountain Surface Processes and Ecological Regulation, Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu, 610041, China

    Jun Zhou, Yanhong Wu, Haijian Bing, Yang Chen, Hongyang Sun & Zhilin Zhong

  2. School of Land and Resources, China West Normal University, Nanchong, 637000, China

    Xiaoxiao Wang

Authors
  1. Jun Zhou
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  2. Yanhong Wu
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  3. Xiaoxiao Wang
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  4. Haijian Bing
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  5. Yang Chen
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  6. Hongyang Sun
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  7. Zhilin Zhong
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Correspondence to Jun Zhou or Yanhong Wu.

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Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues

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Zhou, J., Wu, Y., Wang, X. et al. Divergent patterns of soil phosphorus discharge from water-level fluctuation zone after full impoundment of Three Gorges Reservoir, China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 26, 2559–2568 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-3805-1

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