Influence of external loading and halocline on phosphorus release from sediment in an artificial tidal lake

摘要

Many of the dams built in estuaries in the last century have difficulty with water quality management.Numerous factors have affected the estuary lake water,most importantly external loadings,tidal currents,and increases in the phosphorus(P)release from sediment,so that most water quality characteristics in the estuary are highly interactive and dynamic.In the current study,water quality measurements were made in the laboratory and field,and a series of phosphorus release experiments was done to understand the behavior of P in an estuary lake.The concentrations of chemical oxygen demand(COD),chlorophyll-a(Chl-a),and total P(TP)showed an increasing trend when the pollutant loading of the influent stream waterwas high.The measurements showed increasing trends,which indicates the constituents are produced in the internal environment of the lake.When a large amount of freshwater flowed in from the upper watershed,density stratification was observed,which forms strongly because of the salinity of seawater.During the period of stratification,a hypoxic layer formed,which can accelerate P release.Comparing the open and closed conditions of the release experiments,the P release rate was much higher under the closed condition than under the open condition.The maximum P release rates from the sediment collected from the five main sites of the lake were more than 2.5 times the P loading from the inflowing streams in April.Spatially,the release rate was higher mid-reservoir than down-reservoir where a halocline was evident.The pollutant load discharged from the tributary watershed was deposited on the bottom mid-reservoir,whereas it was washed out downreservoir because of the density stratification and strong tide in that area.To sustainably manage water quality and decrease lake eutrophication in brackish environments formed by freshwater from streams mixing with seawater entering through sluice dikes,different measures than those applied in strictly freshwater environments are required.Considering the spatial characteristics of an estuary lake,these measures include 1)blocking settleable particles discharged from the rivers upstream,2)controlling hypoxia to avoid P release from the sediment and inhibiting algae growth mid-reservoir,and 3)decreasing stratification caused by the halocline down-reservoir.