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A large artificial dyke greatly alters partitioning of sulfate and iron reduction and resultant phosphorus dynamics in sediments of the Yeongsan River estuary, Yellow Sea
- Source :
- Science of The Total Environment. 665:752-761
- Publication Year :
- 2019
- Publisher :
- Elsevier BV, 2019.
-
Abstract
- We investigated sediment geochemistry, partitioning of organic carbon (Corg) oxidation by iron reduction (FeR) and sulfate reduction (SR), and benthic phosphorus (P) release, together with the P speciation in the sediments to elucidate the P dynamics in two contrasting sediments (i.e., estuarine vs. limnetic) separated by a large dyke in the Yeongsan River estuary of the Yellow Sea. In the sediments of the Yeongsan River estuary (St. YE), SR dominated the Corg oxidation pathway, accounting for 81.7% of total anaerobic Corg oxidation. Under the SR-dominated condition, H2S derived from SR reacts quickly with iron oxides to form iron sulfides, which ultimately release the P bound to Fe(III) into the pore water. The enhanced benthic P flux (0.24 mmol m−2 d−1) at the YE site accounted for 80% of the P required for primary production in the water column. In contrast, in the limnetic sediments of the Yeongsan Lake (St. YL), where high levels of CH4 accumulated, most P was bound to Fe and Al, which resulted in a low benthic P flux (0.03 mmol m−2 d−1). The results suggest that the frequent discharge of relatively P-depleted freshwater into the estuary via the artificial dyke may result in relatively P-limiting conditions in estuarine ecosystems. As a result, benthic P release from the SR-dominated estuarine sediment is a significant internal source of P in the coastal ecosystem. Our results indicate that the construction of a large dyke at a river mouth greatly alters Corg oxidation pathways and P dynamics in coastal ecosystems.
- Subjects :
- Total organic carbon
geography
Environmental Engineering
geography.geographical_feature_category
010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences
Phosphorus
chemistry.chemical_element
Sediment
Estuary
010501 environmental sciences
01 natural sciences
Pollution
chemistry.chemical_compound
Water column
chemistry
Benthic zone
Environmental chemistry
River mouth
Environmental Chemistry
Sulfate
Waste Management and Disposal
0105 earth and related environmental sciences
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 00489697
- Volume :
- 665
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Science of The Total Environment
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....a8158e95bbbbc05f0c1f24bc47582332