Tracing the sources of sediment and associated particulate nitrogen from different land uses in the Johnstone River catchment, Wet Tropics, northeastern Australia

MARINE POLLUTION BULLETIN

卷:157

Article

Bahadori, Mohammad^1,2  Chen, Chengrong^1,2  Lewis, Stephen³  Rashti, Mehran Rezaei^1,2  Cook, Freeman^1,4  Parnell, Andrew⁵  Esfandbod, Maryam^1,2  Stevens, Thomas³ 

[1] Griffith Univ, Australian Rivers Inst, Brisbane, Qld 4111, Australia

[2] Griffith Univ, Sch Environm & Sci, Brisbane, Qld 4111, Australia

[3] James Cook Univ, Ctr Trop Water & Aquat Ecosyst Res, Catchment Reef Res Grp, Townsville, Qld 4811, Australia

[4] Freeman Cook & Associates Pty Ltd, Brisbane, Qld, Australia

[5] Maynooth Univ, Hamilton Inst, Maynooth, Kildare, Ireland

关键词: Fingerprinting;    Mixing models;    Particulate nitrogen;    Stable isotope;    Geochemical signatures;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.marpolbul.2020.111344

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

While the ecosystem of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR), north-eastern Australia, is being threatened by the elevated levels of sediments and nutrients discharged from adjacent coastal river systems, the source of these detrimental pollutants are not well understood. Here we used a combined isotopic (delta C-13, delta N-15) and geochemical (Zn, Pt and S) signatures and stable isotope analysis in R (SIAR) mixing model to estimate the contribution of different land uses to the sediment and associated particulate nitrogen delivered to the Johnstone River. Results showed that rainforest was the largest contributor of suspended and bed sediments in the river estuary (both 33.1%), followed by banana (26.7%, 20.4%), sugarcane (21.5%, 21.4%) and grazing (18.7%, 25.1%). However, bananas and sugarcane land uses had the highest contribution to sediments delivered to the coast per unit of area. This will help land managers to prioritise on-ground activities to improve water quality in the GBR lagoon.

【 授权许可】

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