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Arid areas play a significant role in the global nitrogen cycle. Dry and wet deposition of inorganic nitrogen (N) species were monitored at one urban (SDS) and one suburban (TFS) site at Urumqi in a semi-arid region of central Asia. Atmospheric concentrations of NH3, NO2, HNO3, particulate ammonium and nitrate (pNH4+ and pNO3−) concentrations and NH4-N and NO3-N concentrations in precipitation showed large monthly variations and averaged 7.1, 26.6, 2.4, 6.6, 2.7 µg N m−3 and 1.3, 1.0 mg N L−1 at both SDS and TFS. Nitrogen dry deposition fluxes were 40.7 and 36.0 kg N ha−1 yr−1 while wet deposition of N fluxes were 6.0 and 8.8 kg N ha−1 yr−1 at SDS and TFS, respectively. Total N deposition averaged 45.8 kg N ha−1 yr−1at both sites. Our results indicate that N dry deposition has been a major part of total N deposition (83.8% on average) in an arid region of central Asia. Such high N deposition implies heavy environmental pollution and an important nutrient resource in arid regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]