Author(s)

M. M. Taboada-Castro, A. Diéguez-Villar & M. T. Taboada

Abstract

Temporal variation of nitrogen and phosphorus contents in surface waters from a small agricultural catchment in NW Spain M. M. Taboada-Castro, A. Dikguez-Villar & M.T. Taboada Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de A Corufia, Spain. Abstract This work examines the influence of various factors, such as climatic (precipitation level and flux rate) and antropogenic (soil use and management practices), on the evolution of NO;, NOi, NH; and PO:--P concentrations in the surface water of a small agricultural catchment. NH; and ~ 0 ~ ~ ' concentrations were strongly influenced by the arrival of slurries to the stream. The suspension of these fertilization practices that came with the soil use changes lead to a decrease of several orders of magnitude in their concentrations. So, N W ~ levels, after reaching peaks of 30 mg L-' during high intensity fertilization periods, went on to be in the range 0.03 to 0.2 rng L-' when slurry application was stopped, and PO~~--P concentrations reached values of 10 mg L

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