The mixing behavior of nutrients in summer at Liaohe Estuary
夏季辽河口各形态营养盐的河口混合行为

Nutrients and their distributionI at Lihaohe estuary were studied in July 2009. Concentrations of nutrients varied at Liaohe estuary. At Liaohe estuary, phosphate was the predominant species of total phosphorus (TP), followed by particulate phosphorus(PP), and dissolved organic phosphorus(DOP); nitrate was the predominant species of total nitrogen (TN), followed by dissolved organic nitrogen (DON), particulate nitrogen(PN), and nitrite, ammonia. The data indicated that nitrate, nitrite, dissolved organic nitrogen (DON), dissolved inorganic nitrogen(DIN), dissolved total nitrogen(DTN), and total nitrogen(TN) behaved conservatively, while ammonia and particulate nitrogen (PN) did not. Particulate phosphorus (PP), dissolved organic phosphorus(DOP), dissolved total phosphorus(DTP), total phosphorus(TP), and silicate behaved conservatively, mainly controlled by mixing process of salt and fresh water. According to sea water quality standard, all the dissolved inorganic nitrogen fell short of the fourth category of sea water quality, and phosphate just reached or fell short of the fourth category of sea water quality.