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Biofilm-induced bioclogging produces sharp interfaces in hyporheic flow, redox conditions, and microbial community structure
- Source :
- Geophysical Research Letters. 44:4917-4925
- Publication Year :
- 2017
- Publisher :
- American Geophysical Union (AGU), 2017.
-
Abstract
- Riverbed sediments host important biogeochemical processes that play a key role in nutrient dynamics. Sedimentary nutrient transformations are mediated by bacteria in the form of attached biofilms. The influence of microbial metabolic activity on the hydrochemical conditions within the hyporheic zone is poorly understood. We present a hydrobiogeochemical model to assess how the growth of heterotrophic and autotrophic biomass affects the transport and transformation of dissolved nitrogen compounds in bedform-induced hyporheic zones. Coupling between hyporheic exchange, nitrogen metabolism, and biomass growth leads to an equilibrium between permeability reduction and microbial metabolism that yields shallow hyporheic flows in a region with low permeability and high rates of microbial metabolism near the stream-sediment interface. The results show that the bioclogging caused by microbial growth can constrain rates and patterns of hyporheic fluxes and microbial transformation rate in many streams.
- Subjects :
- Biogeochemical cycle
010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences
Chemistry
Ecology
0208 environmental biotechnology
Heterotroph
Microbial metabolism
02 engineering and technology
01 natural sciences
020801 environmental engineering
Geophysics
Nutrient
Microbial population biology
Environmental chemistry
General Earth and Planetary Sciences
Hyporheic zone
Autotroph
Nitrogen cycle
0105 earth and related environmental sciences
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 00948276
- Volume :
- 44
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Geophysical Research Letters
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi...........db41057d0b3cafd4f767e6d67294f38c