The addition of FeOOH binds phosphate in organic matter-rich sediments

ABSTRACT

Due to climate change and anthropogenic nutrients’ runoff into freshwater or shallow lakes, eutrophication caused by phosphorus (P) can be seen in the frequent occurrence of cyanobacterial blooms and excessive growth of macrophytes. Subsequently, decomposition of cyanobacterial bloom biomass (CBB) and macrophytes leads to massive autochthonous organic matter (OM) and creates hypoxia in bodies of water. In this study, we investigated the effects of OM and iron on phosphorus release from lake sediments under anaerobic conditions. As with CBB, the addition of cellulose also enhanced P release from sediments during microcosm experiments, while total phosphorus (TP) concentration in the overlying water displayed an inverse relationship to cellulose amendment, with high TP concentration (0.41 ± 0.07 mg L⁻¹) observed in the treatment of less cellulose amendment (1 g of cellulose). In addition, P release from OM-rich sediments was effectively inhibited when amorphous FeOOH was added to the microcosms. P release was inhibited by 66–92% when the weight ratio between total Fe and total P in sediments varied from 18 to 60. Thus, iron treatment was useful to inhibit P release from OM-rich sediments, and could alleviate eutrophication problems.

KEYWORDS:

• Autochthonous organic matter
• microcosm
• iron
• phosphorus release
• sediments

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China [51379199], the Innovation Program of the Chinese Academy of Science [KZCX2-EW-314] and the 135 Project of Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, CAS [No. NIGLAS2012135008].