Abstract
Much of the material mobilized during both natural crustal weathering and anthropogenic activities is dispersed by rivers, which transport the material towards the land/sea margins. In this sense, rivers may be regarded as the carriers of a wide variety of chemical signals to the World Ocean. The effect that these signals have on the chemistry of the ocean system may be assessed within the framework of three key questions (see e.g. Martin & Whitfield 1983): (1) What is the quantity and chemical composition of the dissolved and particulate material carried by rivers? (2) What are the fates of these materials in the estuarine mixing zone? (3) What is the ultimate quantity and composition of the material that is exported from the estuarine zone and actually reaches the open ocean? These questions will be addressed in this chapter, and in this way river-transported materials will be tracked on their journey from their source, across the estuarine (river/ocean) interface, through the coastal receiving zone and out into the open ocean.
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Chester, R. (1990). The transport of material to the oceans: the river pathway. In: Marine Geochemistry. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-9488-7_3
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