Premium
Stoichiometric models for nutrient regeneration m anoxic sediments 1
Author(s) -
Berner Robert A.
Publication year - 1977
Publication title -
limnology and oceanography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.7
H-Index - 197
eISSN - 1939-5590
pISSN - 0024-3590
DOI - 10.4319/lo.1977.22.5.0781
Subject(s) - anoxic waters , adsorption , organic matter , diffusion , diagenesis , decomposition , sediment , chemistry , sedimentation , stoichiometry , phosphorus , environmental chemistry , mineralogy , thermodynamics , geology , paleontology , organic chemistry , physics
The overall C:N:P stoichiometric composition of organic matter undergoing decomposition during sulfate reduction in anoxic sediments cannot be correctly deduced from pore water chemistry unless corrections for differential diffusion and adsorption are made. This paper presents a method for making these corrections, based on steady state diagenetic modeling of pore water data and estimates of diffusion coefficients, adsorption constants, and rates of sedimentation. For a sediment site in Long Island Sound, calculations indicate that ignoring differential diffusion and adsorption results in deduced nitrogen and phosphorus contents in decomposing organic matter which are too low by a factor of 2. Further calculation suggests that the effects of differential adsorption cannot be neglected in most other sediments that undergo appreciable adsorption.