Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Albuquerque 2001

PC09 River and Margin Biogeochemistry

Date: Wednesday, February 14, 2001

Location: Southwest Hall

Corbett, D, R, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, USA, corbettd@mail.ecu.edu

McKee, B, A, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USA, bmckee@tulane.edu

Duncan, D, , Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USA, nadnacnud@hotmail.com

NATURALLY-OCCURRING RADIOISOTOPES AS INDICATORS OF SEDIMENT CYCLING IN RIVER-DOMINATED OCEAN MARGINS

Large rivers are the primary interface between terrestrial and ocean environments. A small number of rivers account for a majority of the freshwater and suspended materials that are delivered to the coastal ocean.. Particulate material in these environments are typically deposited and resuspended several times before permanent accumulation or transport off the shelf. This sediment cycling is an important component influencing biogeochemical processes that occur in coastal environments. During two cruises in April and October 2000 on the shelf adjacent to the Mississippi River, we collected water and sediment samples for analysis of naturally-occurring radionuclides (Be-7, Th-234, and Pb-210) to evaluate the transport and fate of terrestrial and marine material. A comparison of the distribution of these three tracers (9-spatially and temporally) provides insight about the pathways and residence times of particulate materials on the shelf. The temporal and spatial relationships between the water column and seabed will be discussed.

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Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Albuquerque 2001

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