Vertical variation of nonpoint source pollutants in the Three Gorges Reservoir Region

Nonpoint source (NPS) pollution is considered the main reason for water deterioration, but there has been no attempt to incorporate vertical variations of NPS pollution into watershed management, especially in mountainous areas. In this study, the vertical variations of pollutant yields were explore...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2013-08, Vol.8 (8), p.e71194
Main Authors: Shen, Zhenyao, Chen, Lei, Hong, Qian, Xie, Hui, Qiu, Jiali, Liu, Ruimin
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agricultural land
Agricultural management
Agriculture
Algorithms
Altitude
Biology
Canyons
Chemistry
China
Climate change
Deforestation
Earth Sciences
Engineering
Environmental management
Environmental Monitoring
Environmental Pollution
High altitude
High-altitude environments
Hydrology
Laboratories
Land use
Land use management
Land use planning
Low altitude
Models, Theoretical
Mountain regions
Mountainous areas
Nitrogen
Nonpoint source pollution
Pollutants
Pollution
Pollution control
Precipitation
Precipitation (Meteorology)
Precipitation patterns
Researchers
Reservoirs
Sediments
Slopes
Soil erosion
Topography
Variation
Water Movements
Water pollution
Water quality
Watershed management
Watersheds
Yield
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Summary:Nonpoint source (NPS) pollution is considered the main reason for water deterioration, but there has been no attempt to incorporate vertical variations of NPS pollution into watershed management, especially in mountainous areas. In this study, the vertical variations of pollutant yields were explored in the Three Gorges Reservoir Region (TGRR) and the relationships between topographic attributes and pollutant yields were established. Based on our results, the pollutant yields decreased significantly from low altitude to median altitude and leveled off rapidly from median altitude to high altitude, indicating logarithmic relationships between pollutant yields and altitudes. The pollutant yields peaked at an altitude of 200-500 m, where agricultural land and gentle slopes (0-8°) are concentrated. Unlike the horizontal distributions, these vertical variations were not always related to precipitation patterns but did vary obviously with land uses and slopes. This paper also indicates that altitude data and proportions of land use could be a reliable estimate of NPS yields at different altitudes, with significant implications for land use planning and watershed management.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0071194