Browsing by Author "Vuai, Said Ali H."

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    Aluminum, Silicon and Nutrients Characteristics in Precipitation of Semi-Arid Area in Dodoma Municipality, Tanzania
    (International Invention Journals, 2015) Vuai, Said Ali H.
    Dodoma region is a semi arid area experiencing long dry season accompanied with very strong wind. This condition results into suspension of particles in the atmosphere originating from the blown soil dust which may transport nutrients and other metals and causing negative consequences to the ecosystem. Contribution of this phenomenon to the atmospheric aluminum, silicon and nutrients is not well understood. The study was conducted to assess atmospheric deposition of aluminum, silicon and nutrients in Dodoma Municipality. The samples of rain water were collected in event basis from three different areas reflecting a combination of natural and anthropogenic activities and analyzed for aluminum, silicon, ammonium, nitrate and phosphate. The results show that there is strong variation in rainfall intensity within Dodoma Municipality caused by niches of micro meteorological factors. The concentration of nutrients showed that NO3 ->NH4 +>PO4 3- with volume weighted mean concentrations 500, 210 and 160μgL-1, respectively. Nutrients deposition in Dodoma Municipality show clear spatial variation due to nature and intensity of anthropogenic activities. It was also found that annual deposition flux of the nitrogen based nutrient is low compared to the other reported area with similar rainfall intensity reflecting less industrial activities and relatively low population density. However phosphorous deposition is relatively high due to burning of biomass during land preparation and dissolution from soil particles. Silicon and aluminum in the precipitation around Dodoma Municipality was significantly high showing clear spatial variation as results of variation of rainwater pH. It was concluded that strong wind during dry condition disperse nutrients and bring soil dust which results into high concentrations of aluminum and silicon and low concentrations of nitrogen in the wet precipitation