Study finds nitrogen pollution a growing problem in China
Thursday, February 21, 2013 - 10:30
in Earth & Climate
(Phys.org)—A team of researchers with members from several countries around the world, and led by Chinese agriculturalist Fusuo Zhang has found that nitrogen deposition over China has increased by over 60 percent over the past 30 years, leading to widespread environmental damage. In their paper published in the journal Nature, the team describes how nitrogen pollutants such as ammonia and nitrogen oxides are converted to ammonium and nitrates which then fall to Earth as part of natural precipitation. The result, they say, is the widespread deposition of nitrogen pollutants across large swaths of the country.