Assessment of nitrogen and phosphorus loading by atmospheric dry deposition to the Lagos Lagoon, Nigeria
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Date
2016-05-25
Authors
Olayinka, K. O.
Oladosu, N. O.
Abayomi, A. A.
Alo, B. I.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Springer
Abstract
Surface water pollution has been found to be
considerably driven by the contributions of airborne parti-
cles, open-air waste burning and fossil fuel combustion,
ammonia volatilization from excreta, fertilizer and deriva-
tives from explosive factories. Atmospheric deposition into
the Lagos Lagoon is suspected to be a major contributor to
the nutrient levels of the lagoon. Atmospheric dry nutrient
deposition was monitored at six stations around the Lagos
Lagoon from January to June 2012 in order to estimate the
contribution of atmospheric deposits into the lagoon’s
nutrient cycles. Species of phosphorus (P) and nitrogen
(N) in the lagoon water were analyzed by colorimetric
methods. Mean [NO −
3 + NO −
2 ]-N was
3.08 ± 2.10 mg m−2 day−1 (0.55–8.73 mg m−2 day−1
).
The (NO−
3 + NO−
2)-N was only about 2 % of total N but
[NH+
4 + organic]-N was approximately 38 % of total N.
Particulate N was about 60 % of total N. Average total N
was 144 ± 94.9 mg m−2 day−1 (48.0–285 mg m−2 day−1
).
Average soluble reactive P was significantly lower than
[NO −
3 + NO −
2 ]-N averaging about
0.12 ± 0.12 mg m−2 day−1
. Soluble reactive P (SRP) was
less than 2 % of total P but soluble organic P was about
86 % of total P. Particulate P accounted for about 12 % of
total P. Average total P was 4.56 ± 10.1 mg m−2 day−1
(0.48–31.6 mg m−2 day−1
). This study shows that atmo-
spheric deposition of nutrients into the Lagos Lagoon is taking place and this may represent a considerable propor-
tion of the total nutrient loading of the lagoon.
Description
Keywords
Research Subject Categories::NATURAL SCIENCES::Chemistry::Analytical chemistry::Separation methods , Dry deposition , Surface-water , pollution , Nitrogen , Phosphorus
Citation
Olayinka, K. O., Oladosu, N. O., Abayomi, A. A., & Alo, B. I. (2016). Assessment of nitrogen and phosphorus loading by atmospheric dry deposition to the Lagos Lagoon, Nigeria. Environmental monitoring and assessment, 188(7), 423.