Effect of mechanical aeration on nitrogen and microbial activity in sediment-water interface from urban lake

Aeration was one of the common techniques which were focused in environmental engineering research. In this study, experiments were carried out to investigate the effect of aeration on nitrogen (N) fractions and its transformation in the sediment-water interface from urban lake. In addition, we measured the dehydrogenase (DHA) and Chla content in surface sediment to detect the changes of the microbial activity. The aim is to explore the regulation of N migration and transformation in the water-sediment interface during the treatment work of lake pollution. By mechanical aeration, we control the DO content of the overlying water at the range of 1.2-1.5 kg/L, 2.5-4.5 mg/L and 6.1-6.2 mg/L. Results showed that DO in overlying water play a role to the variation of N in water-sediment interface. NH₄⁺-N was the mainly N fraction released from sediment, the lower DO concentration (1.2-1.5 mg/L) in overlying water is favorable to the release of NH₄⁺-N from sediment. Whether under aerobic or anaerobic condition, the releasing of NH₄⁺-N from sediment were both higher than its consumption in the overlying water. The benthic microbial activity of the surface sediment (0-2 cm) was higher than that from bottom (6-8 cm). And the microbial activity in surface sediment was in optimum range when the overlying water DO content was about 2.5-4.5 mg/L.