ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Effects of Hydrostatic Pressure on the Nitrogen
Cycle of Sediment
Bei-bei Chai1,2, Ting-lin Huang3,4, Xiao-guang Zhao2, Yajiao Li2
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1School of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Xi’an University of Science & Technology,
Xi’an 710054, P.R. China
2Geological Resources and Geological Engineering Postdoctoral Research Station,
Xi’an University of Science & Technology, Xi’an 710054, P.R. China
3School of Environmental and Municipal Engineering, Xi’an University of Architecture & Technology,
Xi’an 710055, P.R. China
4Key Laboratory of Northwest Water Resources, Environment and Ecology,
MOE, Xi’an 710055, P.R. China
Submission date: 2016-05-19
Final revision date: 2016-07-05
Acceptance date: 2016-07-05
Publication date: 2016-11-24
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2016;25(6):2293-2304
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ABSTRACT
We carried out a simulation experiment in a laboratory in order to study the effects of hydrostatic
pressure from 0.1 MPa to 1.0 MPa on nitrogen cycles at the water-sediment interface of a freshwater
reservoir. The results show that high hydrostatic pressure facilitates the release of nitrogen at the interface
and ammonification, but has little influence on denitrification. And high hydrostatic pressure will also
significantly increase the activity of dehydrogenases and proteases in the sediment, and has little influence
on ureases and nitrate reductase activity. The pressure caused a large accumulation of such pollutants as
ammoniacal nitrogen and nitrate nitrogen at the interface, seriously worsening the overlying water quality.
As PLFA and PCR-DGGE analysis results show, different hydrostatic pressures will lead to remarkable
differences in the microbial community’s structure and heredity. Within the range 0.1 MPa to 1.0 MPa, the
microbial community structure is more diverse under high hydrostatic pressure than under normal pressure.