Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Albuquerque 2001

SS06 Carbon Fluxes at Ocean and Large Lake Margins (Environmental Connections)

Date: Thursday, February 15, 2001, Time: 3:45:00 PM

Location: Brazos

Eadie, B, J, NOAA - GLERL, Ann Arbor, USA, eadie@glerl.noaa.gov

Robbins, J, A, NOAA - GLERL, Ann Arbor, USA, Robbins@glerl.noaa.gov

Lansing, M, B, NOAA - GLERL, Ann Arbor, USA, Lansing@glerl.noaa.gov

Morehead, N, R, NOAA - GLERL, Ann Arbor, USA, Morehead@glerl.noaa.gov

Winkelman, A, G, Cooperative Institute for Limnology and Ecosystem Research, Ann Arbor, USA, Winkelman@glerl.noaa.gov

CARBON AND MASS TRANSPORT INTO A NEARSHORE DEPOSITIONAL BASIN IN SOUTHERN LAKE MICHIGAN

Although the southern basin of Lake Michigan is approximately bathymetrically symmetric and 160m deep in the center, the area of maximum sediment deposition is centered along an isobath of 55m in the southeastern region. This appears to be a consequence of a small bathymetric bulge and the convergence of a two-gyre circulation pattern. In 1999 138 box cores were collected over an area of 930 sq. km. approximately centered on the depositional basin. Eleven sequencing sediment traps and five transmissometers were deployed in the same region to provide a time series of the delivery of particulate matter. Mass fluxes ranged from less than 1 to 100 g/sq.m/d. Strong N-S (10x) and cross-margin (3x) gradients of mass collected in the traps were observed and the temporal pattern was bimodal, with the maximum amount coincident with the largest storm of the spring. Organic carbon and nutrient fluxes were generally proportional to the mass fluxes. It appears that major spring storms are an important process for the delivery of materials into this depositional basin.

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Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Albuquerque 2001

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