The contribution of roadside soil to phosphorus loading in the eutrophic Lagos Lagoon, Nigeria

Abstract

Roadside soils were sampled from the Lagos Lagoon catchment during the wet and dry seasons over the period 2005–2009. Lagoon sediment samples were also collected within the same period. All samples were digested with aqua regia to determine total phosphorus and extracted with 0.5 M sodium bicarbonate to determine the bioavailable fraction (Olsen-P). A segmented flow analyser method was used for analysis and good accuracy was demonstrated for two reference soils (SO-2 from CCMET and SRM 2711 from NIST). The Lagos Lagoon is a hypereutrophic water body (1270 ± 1170 μg P L⁻¹), with significant areas of anoxia and water hyacinth growth. The total phosphorus concentrations in roadside soils (16 sites; mean ± 2 S.D.) were 285 ± 279 mg kg⁻¹ in the wet season and 424 ± 629 mg kg⁻¹ in the dry season, indicating that rainwater leaching is a major source of phosphorus in the lagoon. The bioavailable fractions were 5.17 ± 3.47 mg kg⁻¹ (2.1 ± 1.5% of the total) in the wet season and 13.0 ± 8.7 mg kg⁻¹ (4.3 ± 4.5% of the total) in the dry season.