Atmospheric organic nitrogen deposition around the Danjiangkou Reservoir: Fluxes, characteristics and evidence of agricultural source

Dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) deposition was the substantial component of dissolved total nitrogen (DTN) deposition in the world's nitrogen deposition hot spots areas. However, the information on the importance for DON deposition and its sources was still scarce, which limited the comprehensive assessment of the ecological threat from nitrogen deposition. Six sites around the Danjiangkou Reservoir were set up to collect the dry and wet deposition samples from October 2017 to September 2021. The results showed that dry and wet DTN deposition averaged 34.72 kg ha−1 yr−1 and 22.27 kg ha−1 yr−1, respectively. Dry NH4+−N, NO3−-N and DON deposition averaged 14.28 kg ha−1 yr−1, 5.91 kg ha−1 yr−1 and 14.53 kg ha−1 yr−1, respectively. Wet NH4+-N, NO3−-N and DON deposition averaged 11.14 kg ha−1 yr−1, 3.89 kg ha−1 yr−1and 7.24 kg ha−1 yr−1, respectively. The contributions of DON to DTN were 41.85% (in dry deposition) and 32.50% (in wet deposition), respectively. Dry DON deposition varied between 26.44 kg ha−1 yr−1 and 9.11 kg ha−1 yr−1, and significantly differed among six sampling sites (P < 0.05). The different intensity of agricultural activities disturbance at the sampling sites was the important reason for the spatial variations of DON deposition. DON deposition was significantly correlated with ammonium nitrogen (NH4+-N) deposition (P < 0.05). According to the results of positive matrix factorization (PMF) model, agriculture source contributed significantly to the DON deposition, the contributions at six sampling sites ranged from 45.8% to 73.7% in dry deposition, and from 56.8% to 81.6% in wet deposition. In summary, our findings found that agricultural activities were the important factors influencing the spatial patterns of DON deposition around Danjiangkou Reservoir and provided new evidence for the anthropogenic source of DON deposition in China.