Impact of natural (storm) and anthropogenic (trawling) sediment resuspension on particulate organic matter in coastal environments

In order to assess the impact of natural and anthropogenic sediment resuspension on quantity, biochemical composition and bioavailability of particulate organic matter (POM), two field investigations were carried out in two shallow coastal areas of the Mediterranean Sea. In the Gulf of Lions, we investigated the impact of a storm resuspension of sediment, whereas in the Thermaikos Gulf we investigated the impact of bottom trawling.Resuspension in the Gulf of Lions determined the increase of sedimentation rates, modified the composition of the organic fraction of settling particles and decreased the labile fraction of POM, as indicated by a drop in the enzymatically hydrolysable amino acid fraction. The increase in the refractory fraction, following short-term storm-induced resuspension, increased also the contribution of glycine and decreased the contribution of aspartic acid contents to the total amino acid pools.Trawling activities in Thermaikos Gulf determined a significant increase in suspended POM concentrations and important changes in its biochemical composition. After trawling, the protein to carbohydrate ratio decreased (as a result of a major input of sedimentary carbohydrates at the water–sediment interface) and the fraction of enzymatically hydrolysable biopolymeric C decreased by ≈30%, thus reducing the bioavailability of resuspended organic particles. Results of the present study indicate that changes in suspended POM, induced by storms and trawling activities, can have similar consequences on benthic systems and on food webs. In fact, the potential benefit of increased organic particle concentration for suspension feeders, is depressed by the shift of suspended food particles towards a more refractory composition.     

Th:U disequilibrium as an indicator of sediment resuspension in Thermaikos Gulf, northwestern Aegean Sea

²³⁴Th:²³⁸U disequilibria have been used extensively as tracers of particle dynamics in marine environments. ²³⁴Th (t_1/2=24.1 days) can be used as “proxy” for particle reactive pollutants, due to their similar rapid rate of scavenging onto particles and subsequent removal from the water column, to the sediments. Radioactive disequilibrium can be exploited to determine the rates and time-scales of processes occurring over days to months; in this instance the residence times of dissolved and particulate species with the benthic nepheloid layer (BNL).Three sampling cruises were undertaken in Thermaikos Gulf (NW Aegean Sea) during contrasting periods, to examine the impact of natural and anthropogenic activity on sediment resuspension. September and October 2001 represented background and trawling periods, respectively; January 2002 represented a mixed period, of trawling and storms.Dissolved ²³⁴Th is scavenged actively at the BNL, in the presence of suspended particulate material (SPM), with a mean residence time of 16 days. There is a weak inverse correlation between dissolved ²³⁴Th residence time and SPM concentration in the BNL, with the shortest residence times occurring during October 2001. No relationship was observed between particulate ²³⁴Th activities and SPM concentrations, indicating that particles are rapidly removed from the system, either by sinking or advection. The mean particulate ²³⁴Th residence time is 5 days.     

Transport,sloughing and settling rates of estuarine macrophytes: Mechanisms and ecological implications

The study of plant-bound nutrient transport has been largely neglected in estuaries. Lately however, it has been shown that nutrients bound to macroalgae and seagrasses can constitute a major part of the nutrient transport in shallow tidal estuaries. Organic detritus in estuaries comes from various sources. This paper looks into the source of detritus from sloughing, and the transport behaviour of plant detritus under unidirectional flows. In order to determine the extent of the sloughing of macrophytes, the threshold current velocities for the traction and resuspension of the most common submersed macrophytes in Venice Lagoon (Ulva lactuca, Enteromorpha sp., Ceramium rubrum, Cladophora sp., and Chaetomorpha linum) were studied in a laboratory flume. It was found that all macrophytes subjected to flows of 1.5–3.0 cm s⁻¹ move initially as bed load. The threshold for suspension of the macrophyte tissue was at current speeds >3 cm s⁻¹. The exception was the filamentous macroalgae, C. linum, which moved as bed load at all current speeds. This implies that the advection of plant-bound nutrients in Venice Lagoon is widespread and takes place over virtually all stages of the tide.     

The effect of resuspension on the fate of total mercury and methyl mercury in a shallow estuarine ecosystem: a mesocosm study

Sediments are the major repository of mercury in estuaries and could be a significant source of Hg to the overlying water column via release from the solid phase during resuspension. There is, however, little information on the effect of resuspension on Hg partitioning and release to the water column. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of resuspension on the cycling of THg and MeHg between the water column and the sediment. Tidal resuspension was simulated using the MEERC STORM facility. The facility can mimic both realistic bottom shear stress and water column turbulence simultaneously. There were three replicates of each resuspension (R) and no resuspension (NR) mesocosms. Two 4-week experiments were conducted in July and October of 2001: experiment 1 without clams and experiment 2 with clams. Both experiments showed that resuspension of muddy sediment introduced significantly higher particulate THg to the water column as TSS increased. The results suggest that THg was mostly bound to sediment particles with very little release during the resuspension events. In contrast, particulate MeHg was significantly lower in the R tanks where sediment particles with poor MeHg were dominant in the water column during the resuspension events. Dissolved THg and MeHg did not change in concert with changes in particulate load, suggesting that the dynamics between dissolved and particulate phases for both THg and MeHg cannot be explained by an equilibrium partitioning.     

Review of the Seabed Sediment Resuspension by Internal Solitary Wave

Internal Solitary Waves (ISWs) are nonlinear, large amplitude motions of the interface between two fluids with different densities in the stratified ocean. Because of their strong vertical and horizontal current velocity, and the vortex, turbulent mixing caused by breaking, they affect marine environment, seabed sediment and man-made structures in the ocean. In the paper, we systematically analyzed and summarized the ISW-induced shoaling break mechanisms, models of suspension, and seabed dynamical response. Then, we discussed the ISW-induced sediment resuspension criteria, forming bottom and intermediate nepheloid layer and the capacity to suspend sediments in the seabed, and further put forward the unsolved problems based on the conducted work and related achievements. In shallow seas with complex terrain variations, shoaling can cause ISWs to deform, break, and split. Studies on the propagation of ISWs of depression over sloping topography have shown that an adverse pressure gradient causes the rotation of the flow separation, which produces vortices, and this results in global instability of the boundary layer and ISW burst. The separation vortices increase the bottom shear stress, vertical velocity, and near-bottom Reynolds stress, which leads to sediment resuspension and transport in the flow and vortex core. Although episodic, ISW-induced resuspension is hypothesized to be important enough to shape the topography. Shoaling ISWs may erode, resuspend and transport mud-like sediments, first towards shore by boluses, and subsequently offshore through the generation of intermediate nepheloid layers. Shoaling ISWs might be an important mechanism of muddy sediment dispersal along continental shelves. Furthermore, recent hypotheses suggest that sediment mobilization and transport caused by internal waves in general, and ISWs in particular, may be at the origin of some sedimentary structures found in the sedimentary rock record and also the hummocky-cross stratification. Observed on-shelf propagating frontal ISW most likely interacts with the sand waves, sediment waves or sand dunes. ISWs contribute to their generation, as they are trailed by considerable shear-induced turbulence and high-frequency internal waves close to the buoyancy frequency. This work is of great value for further understanding the process of ISW-induced sediment resuspension, transportation, and the capacity to suspend sediments in the seabed. It helps further study of the dynamic process of marine ecological environment dynamic process by ISW and the deep sea sedimentation process.     

Size sorting of fine-grained sediments during erosion: Results from the western Gulf of Lions

Sediment cores from the western Gulf of Lions France were subject to known bottom shear stresses with the goal of understanding size-specific sediment erodibility. On cruises in October 2004, February and April 2005, cores with an undisturbed sediment–water interface were collected along a transect extending seaward from the Tet river mouth. The cores were exposed to increasing shear stresses (0.01–0.4 Pa) onboard the vessel shortly after collection by using a Gust erosion chamber. Samples of the suspensate were collected during the erosion experiments and analyzed for disaggregated inorganic grain size (DIGS) using a Coulter Multisizer IIe. Size-specific mobility plots were generated by dividing the proportion of each grain size in suspension at each shear stress by its proportion in the sediment before erosion. If all grain sizes that make up the bottom sediment are eroded equally from the bed, then mobility equals one for all grain sizes. Values >1 indicate that the suspended sediment is enriched in the size class and values <1 indicate that the size class is enriched in the bed. Results show that in non-cohesive, sandy silts, fine grains (clays and fine silts) are eroded preferentially from the bed at low shear stresses. With increasing bottom stress progressively larger grains are eroded from the bed. In cohesive silts, preferential erosion of the finer sizes no longer occurs, with all sizes up to medium silts eroding at approximately the same rate. Effectively, a sandy silt can be winnowed of its fine grain fraction during erosion while cohesive silts cannot. This difference in the sortability of cohesive and non-cohesive sediment during erosion may control the position and maintenance of the sand–mud transition and the sequestration of surface-adsorbed contaminants.     

黄海夏季水域沉降颗粒物垂直通量的研究

20 0 2年 8月 ,沿穿过黄海冷水团的青岛至济州岛断面 ,在 4个站位放置沉积物捕获器采集沉降颗粒物。镜检发现无机颗粒物、生物粪球以及混杂聚合体是本断面沉降颗粒物主要类型。测定结果显示沉降颗粒物中的颗粒有机碳 (POC)、颗粒有机氮 (PON)、颗粒碳 (PC)、颗粒氮 (PN)和颗粒磷 (PP)的百分含量均呈现从表层到底层逐渐下降的趋势。采用两个改进的模型对底层颗粒物再悬浮比率进行了计算 ,显示黄海海域夏季底层沉降颗粒物再悬浮比率为 90 %— 96%,表明底层沉降颗粒物主要来源于沉积物的再悬浮。两模型所得结果一致 ,证明用温跃层底部颗粒物沉降通量代表水体中颗粒物净沉降通量的假设是合理的。水体中颗粒物、POC及PON的净沉降通量 (±SE)分别为 ( 1 2 65± 3 5 5 )g/(m2 ·d)、( 0 2 9± 0 0 4 )g/(m2 ·d)和( 0 0 6± 0 0 1 )g/(m2 ·d)。     

太湖底泥蓄积量和可悬浮量的计算

基于2002年对太湖底泥分布的调查数据,利用最优插值法计算了整个太湖不同区域的底泥厚度。结果表明,太湖底泥总蓄积量大约在18．57亿m^3,有泥区面积占整个水面积的47．5％左右。此外,利用Shields方法,计算了太湖表层1m内不同深度上底泥悬浮的临界切应力值,采用SMB浅水波动模式,计算了夏季受东南风和冬季受西北风影响下的波切应力,确定了不同风速情况下所能引起的底泥悬浮量。计算结果发现,上述何种风向情况下,能产生悬浮的临界风速大约在5-6m／s,当风速大于临界风速时,悬浮量随着风速的增加而增加;若风速达到20m／s时,所能引起的最大悬浮量约为2．75亿m^3。     

Resuspension patterns in the Baltic proper

Waves induce resuspension of surface sediments and contribute to the long-term mobilisation of particulate matter from erosion to accumulation bottoms. This has a major impact on the nutrient cycle in shallow seas by enhancing degradation, microbial production and recycling. The Baltic Sea represents such an area. The aim of this work is to analyse the spatial and temporal resuspension patterns in the Baltic Sea. To estimate the bottom friction velocity, modelled wave data are used in combination with data on grain size. This new data set is compared to a resuspension threshold of friction velocity to estimate the events of resuspension.The variation in bottom friction velocity, resuspension frequency and duration are related to wind climate, fetch, water depth and sediment type. Substantial resuspension can be found down to 40–60 m, with durations from one day to as much as two weeks. The highest winds in the area are highly anisotropic with a dominance of S-SW-W winds and the highest resuspension frequencies are found along the shallow eastern coasts. A seasonal pattern is observed with relatively high friction velocities and high resuspension frequencies during winter. There is also a variation depending on grain size, where sediments with fine and medium sand have a considerably higher percentage of resuspension events than bottoms with other dominant grain sizes. Five sub-areas are identified, characterised by different sediment types, resuspension and wind characteristics. If, in the future, wind speed increases as predicted, resuspension of sediments will also increase with effects on the nutrient cycle.     

Internal recycling of particle reactive organic chemicals in the Chesapeake Bay water column

Hydrophobic organic contaminants (HOCs) may be used as tracers of particle dynamics in aquatic systems. Internal cycling of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were studied in the mesohaline Chesapeake Bay to assess the role of resuspension in maintaining particle and contaminant inventories in the water column, and to compare settling and suspended particle characteristics. Direct measurements of sediment resuspension and settling conducted in conjunction with one of the sediment trap deployments indicate reasonable agreement between measurements of particle flux using the two different methods. Organic carbon and PCB concentrations in settling solids collected in near-surface sediment traps were remarkably lower than concentrations in suspended particles collected by filtration during the trap deployments, but higher PAH concentrations were found in the settling particles. The different behaviors of PAHs and PCBs in the settling particles are due to their different source types and association to different types of particles. Sediment trap collections in near bottom waters were dominated by resuspension. Resuspension fluxes of HOCs measured 2 m above the bay bottom were as high as 2.5 μg/m² day for total PCBs and 15 μg/m² day for fluoranthene, and were 25 and 10 times higher than their settling fluxes from surface waters, respectively. HOC concentrations in the near bottom traps varied much less between trap deployments than HOC concentrations in the surface traps, indicating that the chemical composition of the resuspended particles collected in the near bottom traps was more time-averaged by repeated resuspension than the surface particles.