Estuaries and Coasts

, Volume 32, Issue 3, pp 425–435 | Cite as

Microelectrode Study of Oxygen Uptake and Organic Matter Decomposition in The Sediments of Xiamen Western Bay

Note
First Online:
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:

Abstract

Sediment cores were sampled from Xiamen Western Bay at five sites during the summer and winter of 2006 and Hg–Au microelectrodes were used to make on board measurements of the concentration gradients of dissolved oxygen, Mn2+, and Fe2+ within the sediments. The O2 concentrations decreased sharply from about 200 μmol L−1 in the bottom seawater to zero within a depth of a few millimeters into the sediment. Dissolved Mn2+ was detected below the oxic zones with peak concentrations up to 600 μmol L−1, whereas dissolved Fe2+ had peak concentrations up to 1,000 μmol L−1 in deeper layers. The elemental contents of organic carbon and nitrogen within the sediments were analyzed and their C/N ratios were in the range of 9.0 to 10.1, indicative of heavy terrestrial origin. Sediments from two sites near municipal wastewater discharge outlets had higher organic contents than those from the other sites. These high organic contents corresponded to shallow O2 penetration depths, high dissolved Mn2+ and Fe2+ concentrations, and negative redox potentials within the sediments. This indicated that the high organic matter content had promoted microbial respiration within the sediments. Overall, the organic content did not show any appreciable decrease with increasing sediment depths, so a quadratic polynomial function was used to fit the curve of O2 profiles within the sediments. Based on the O2 profiles, O2 fluxes across the seawater and sediment interface were estimated to be in the range 6.07 to 14.9 mmol m−2 day−1, and organic carbon consumption rates within the surface sediments were estimated to be in the range 3.3 to 20.8 mgC cm−3 a−1. The case demonstrated that biogeochemistry within the sediments of the bay was very sensitive to human activities such as sewage discharge.

Keywords

Sediment Microelectrode Oxygen Organic matter Manganese Biogeochemistry 
This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

Notes

Acknowledgments

This research was financially supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China under grant no. 40476035. Professor John Hodgkiss is thanked for his assistance with the English.

References

  1. Berg, P., N. Risgaard-Petersen, and S. Rysgaard. 1998. Interpretation of measured concentration profiles in sediment pore water. Limnology and Oceanography 43:1500–1510.Google Scholar
  2. Boudreau, B.P. 1996. A method-of-lines code for carbon and nutrient diagenesis in aquatic sediments. Computers and Geosciences 22:479–496.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  3. Brendel, P.J., and G.W. Luther III. 1995. Development of a gold amalgam voltammetric microelectrode for the determination of dissolved Fe, Mn, O2 and S(-II) in porewaters of marine and freshwater sediments. Environmental Science and Technology 29:751–761.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  4. Cai, W-J., and F.L. Sayles. 1996. Oxygen penetration depths and fluxes in marine sediments. Marine Chemistry 52:123–131.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  5. Cai, W.J., P. Zhao, S.M. Theberge, A. Witter, Y. Wang, and G.W. Luther III. 2001. Porewater redox species, pH and pCO2 in aquatic sediments—electrochemical sensor studies in Lake Champlain and Sapelo Island. In “Environmental electrochemistry: Analyses of trace element biogeochemistry” ACS Symposium volume on electrochemistry, ed. Martial Taillefert and Tim Rozan, 60–67. Washington, DC: American Chemical Society.Google Scholar
  6. Cifuentes, L.A., R.B. Coffin, L. Solorzano, W. Cardenas, J. Espinoza, and P.R. Twilley. 1996. Isotopic and elemental variations of carbon and nitrogen in a mangrove estuary. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 43:781–800.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  7. Dai, M., X. Guo, W. Zhai, L. Yuan, B. Wang, L. Wang, P. Cai, T. Tang, and W-J. Cai. 2006. Oxygen depletion in the upper reach of the Pearl River estuary during a winter drought. Marine Chemistry 102:159–169.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  8. Dedieu, K., C. Rabouille, G. Thouzeau, F. Jean, L. Chauvaud, J. Clavier, V. Mesnage, and S. Ogier. 2007. Benthic O2 distribution and dynamics in a Mediterranean lagoon (Thau, France): An in situ microelectrode study. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 72:393–405.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  9. Dexter, S.C., K. Xu, and G.W. Luther III. 2003. Mn Cycling in marine biofilms: effect on the rate of localized corrosion. Biofouling 19:139–149.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  10. Epping, E., C. van der Zee, K. Soetaert, and W. Helder. 2002. On the oxidation and burial of organic carbon in sediments of the Iberian margin and Nazare canyon (NE Atlantic). Progress in Oceanography 52:399–431.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  11. Glud, R.N., F. Wenzhöfer, A. Tengberg, M. Middelboe, K. Oguri, and H. Kitazato. 2005. Distribution of oxygen in surface sediments from central Sagami Bay, Japan: In situ measurements by microelectrodes and planar optodes. Deep-Sea Research I 52:1974–1987.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  12. Güss, S. 1998. Oxygen uptake at the sediment–water interface simultaneously measured using a flux chamber method and microelectrodes: must a diffusive boundary layer exist? Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 46:143–156.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  13. Hedges, J.I., and J.H. Stern. 1984. Carbon and nitrogen determinations of carbonate-containing solids. Limnology and Oceanography 29:657–663.Google Scholar
  14. Luther III, G.W., B. Sundby, B.L. Lewis, P.J. Brendel, and N. Silverberg. 1997. The interaction of manganese with the nitrogen cycle in continental margin sediments: alternative pathways for dinitrogen formation. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 61:4043–4052.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  15. Luther III, G.W., B.T. Glazer, S. Ma, R.E. Trouwborst, T.S. Moore, E. Metzger, C. Kraiya, T.J. Waite, G. Druschel, B. Sundby, M. Taillefert, D.B. Nuzzio, T.M. Shank, B.L. Lewis, and P.J. Brendel. 2008. Use of voltammetric solid-state microelectrodes for studying biogeochemical processes: Laboratory measurements to real time measurements with an in situ electrochemical analyzer (ISEA). Marine Chemistry 108:221–235.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  16. Luther III, G.W., C. Reimers, and D.B. Nuzzio. 1999. In situ deployment of voltammetric, potentiometric, and amperometric microelectrodes from a ROV to determine dissolved O2, Mn, Fe, S(-2), and pH in porewaters. Environmental Science and Technology 33:4352–4356.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  17. Martin, W.R., and F.L. Sayles. 2004. Organic matter cycling in sediments of the continental margin in the northwest Atlantic ocean. Deep-Sea Research I 51:457–489.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  18. Nealson, K.H., and D. Saffarini. 1994. Iron and manganese in anaerobic respiration: Environmental significance, physiology, and regulation. Annual Review of Microbiology 48:311–343.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  19. Rabouille, C., L. Denis, K. Dedieu, G. Stora, B. Lansard, and C. Grenz. 2003. Oxygen demand in coastal marine sediments: comparing in situ microelectrodes and laboratory core incubations. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 285–286:49–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  20. Reimers, C.E. 1987. An in situ microprofiling instrument for measuring interfacial pore water gradients: methods and oxygen profiles from the North Pacific Ocean. Deep-Sea Research 34:2017–2035.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  21. Reimers, C.E., and R.N. Glud. 2000. In situ chemical sensor measurements at the sediment–water interface. In Chemical Sensors in Oceanography, ed. Mark S Varney, 249–282. London: Gordon Breach Science.Google Scholar
  22. Sauter, E.J., M. Schlüter, and E. Suess. 2001. Organic carbon flux and remineralization in surface sediments from the northern North Atlantic derived from pore-water oxygen microprofiles. Deep-Sea Research I 48:529–553.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  23. Ullman, W.J., and R.C. Aller. 1982. Diffusion coefficients in nearshore marine sediments. Limnology and Oceanography 27:552–556.Google Scholar
  24. Wang, A., J. Chen, D. Yi, and Z. Zhuo. 2007. Spatial variations of carbon and nitrogen in coastal wetland sediments of Quanzhou Bay in China. Environmental Science 28:2361–2368. (in Chinese with English abstract).Google Scholar
  25. Wang, X., W-Q. Li, and F. Zhang. 2002. Assessment on present status and quality of sediment in Xiamen shore bay. Marine Environmental Science 21:57–59. (in Chinese with English abstract).Google Scholar
  26. Wenzhöfer, F., O. Holby, and O. Kohls. 2001. Deep penetrating benthic oxygen profiles measured in situ by oxygen optodes. Deep-Sea Research I 48:1741–1755.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  27. Xu, K., and J. Si. 2007. Development of Hg–Au microelectrode for measuring O2, Mn2+, Fe2+ and S2− in marine sediment pore water. Chinese Journal of Analytical Chemistry 2007 35(8):1147–1150.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  28. Xu, K., S.C. Dexter, and G.W. Luther III. 1998. Voltammetric microelectrodes for biocorrosion studies. Corrosion 54:814–823.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  29. Yang, X., X. Xue, and S.S. Shen. 2006. Cumulative effects assessment of bay ecosystem: Xiamen’s Western Sea, a case study. Aquatic Ecosystem Health & Management 9(1):67–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  30. Zhang, Y.-B., and H. Liu. 2004. Concentrations and distributions of DDT, HCHs and PCBs in surface sediments of Xiamen Sea areas. Taiwan Strait 23:423–428. (in Chinese with English abstract).Google Scholar
  31. Zhang, L., X. Ye, H. Feng, Y. Jing, T. Ouyang, X. Yu, R. Liang, C. Gao, and W. Chen. 2007. Heavy metal contamination in western Xiamen Bay sediments and its vicinity, China. Marine Pollution Bulletin 54:974–982.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Copyright information

© Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation 2009

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science, Environmental Science Research CenterXiamen UniversityXiamenChina

Personalised recommendations