The Main Features of Phosphorus Transport in World Rivers

Abstract

Data on the geochemistry of phosphorus in the continental runoff of dissolved and solid substances were systematized and generalized, with a separate consideration of the processes of runoff transformation in river mouth areas. It has been established that atmospheric deposition, which many authors consider to be an important source of phosphorus in river runoff and not associated with mobilization processes in catchments, actually contains phosphorus from soil-plant recycling. This is confirmed by the fact that the input of phosphorus from the atmosphere into catchments exceeds its removal via water runoff. An analysis of the mass ratio of phosphorus in the adsorbed form and in the form of its own minerals was carried out. It was shown that the maximum mass of adsorbed phosphorus is limited by the solubility of its most stable minerals. The minimum concentrations of dissolved mineral and total phosphorus were observed in the rivers of the Arctic and subarctic belts; the maximum concentrations were confined to the most densely populated temperate zone and the zone of dry tropics and subtropics. In the waters of the primary hydrographic network, the phosphorus concentration exhibited direct relationships with the population density in the catchments and the mineralization of the river water and was closely correlated with the nitrogen content. This strongly suggests that economic activity is one of the main factors in the formation of river phosphorus runoff. The generalization of the authors’ and the literature’s data on the behavior of phosphorus at the river–sea mixing zone made it possible to draw a conclusion about the nonconservative distribution of phosphorus, in most cases associated with biological production and destruction processes. The conservative behavior of phosphorus was observed only in heavily polluted river mouths with abnormally high concentrations of this element.