TY  - JOUR
A1  - Schwientek, Marc
A1  - Selle, Benny
T1  - Quantifying in-stream retention of nitrate at catchment scales using a practical mass balance approach
JF  - Environmental monitoring and assessment : an international journal devoted to progress in the use of monitoring data in assessing environmental risks to man and the environment
N2  - As field data on in-stream nitrate retention is scarce at catchment scales, this study aimed at quantifying net retention of nitrate within the entire river network of a fourth-order stream. For this purpose, a practical mass balance approach combined with a Lagrangian sampling scheme was applied and seasonally repeated to estimate daily in-stream net retention of nitrate for a 17.4 km long, agriculturally influenced, segment of the Steinlach River in southwestern Germany. This river segment represents approximately 70 % of the length of the main stem and about 32 % of the streambed area of the entire river network. Sampling days in spring and summer were biogeochemically more active than in autumn and winter. Results obtained for the main stem of Steinlach River were subsequently extrapolated to the stream network in the catchment. It was demonstrated that, for baseflow conditions in spring and summer, in-stream nitrate retention could sum up to a relevant term of the catchment’s nitrogen balance if the entire stream network was considered.
KW  - Nitrate retention
KW  - In-stream processes
KW  - Mass balance approach
KW  - Stream network
KW  - Catchment scale
Y1  - 2016
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-016-5097-6
SN  - 0167-6369
SN  - 1573-2959
VL  - 188
SP  - 373
EP  - 386
PB  - Springer
CY  - Dordrecht
ER  -