Articles | Volume 6, issue 3
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-6-455-2002
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-6-455-2002
30 Jun 2002
30 Jun 2002

Excess nitrogen leaching and C/N decline in the Tillingbourne catchment, southern England: INCA process modelling for current and historic time series

P. G. Whitehead, D. J. Lapworth, R. A. Skeffington, and A. Wade

Abstract. Measurements of nitrate deposition and streamwater chemistry in the Tillingbourne Catchment, in Southern England, made in 1979-1982 and 1999-2001 show a 216% increase in Nitrogen leaching despite a reduction in N inputs. Both the historical and current data sets have been modelled using the Integrated Nitrogen Model in Catchments (INCA). The process-based model is shown to reproduce the historical patterns of N release from the catchment. However, modelling the increased leaching of N during recent years required an increase of the mineralisation control parameter in the model, suggesting enhanced mineralisation rates. Comparing historic and current soils data for C/N ratios shows that there has been a reduction in C/N from 38 to 26% in the humus layer and a reduction from 33 to 26% in the mineral soil horizon. This significant fall in C/N is consistent with the increase in N saturation in the H and Ah horizons of the major catchment soil.

Keywords: acid deposition, recovery, nitrogen, Carbon-Nitrogen ratios, Tillingbourne, Thames, catchment studies, nutrient leaching, modelling