Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Phosphorus Burial in Sediments Along the Salinity Gradient of the Patuxent River, a Subestuary of the Chesapeake Bay (USA)

  • Published:
Estuaries and Coasts Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

We used a sequential extraction technique and 210Pb dating to determine the chemical form and amount of particulate phosphorus (PP) that is retained during burial in 1-m-long sediment cores collected along a salinity gradient from tidal freshwater to the mesohaline waters of the Patuxent River, a subestuary of the Chesapeake Bay. PP buried in the study sites with salinity values ≤3 was similar in concentration and form to PP entering the Patuxent from the watershed, suggesting efficient sequestration by the sediments at these low-salinity sites. PP extracted with citrate–dithionite–bicarbonate was the dominant form of PP at all salinities and all depths, and organic-P was the second most abundant fraction. We estimated that 81% of PP entering from the watershed is trapped in the sediments of the upper Patuxent subestuary and that the subtidal sediments retain three times as much PP as the marshes adjacent to the study sites.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aller, R.C., J.E. Mackin, and R.T. Cox Jr. 1986. Diagenesis of Fe and S in Amazon inner shelf muds: apparent dominance of Fe reduction and implications for the genesis of ironstones. Continental Shelf Research 6: 263–289.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, L.D., M.L. Delaney, and K.L. Faul. 2001. Carbon to phosphorus ratios in sediments: Implications for nutrient cycling. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 15: 65–79.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Anschutz, P., S. Zhong, B. Sundby, A. Mucci, and C. Gobeil. 1998. Burial efficiency of phosphorus and the geochemistry of iron in continental margin sediments. Limnology and Oceanography 43: 53–64.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Benitez-Nelson, C.R. 2000. The biogeochemical cycling of phosphorus in marine systems. Earth Science Reviews 51: 109–135.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Berner, R.A. 1982. Burial of organic carbon and pyrite sulfur in the moderns oceans: Its geochemical and environmental significance. American Journal of Science 282: 451–473.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Boynton, W.R., J.D. Hagy, J.C. Cornwell, W.M. Kemp, S.M. Greene, M.S. Owens, J.E. Baker, and R.K. Larsen. 2008. Nutrient budgets and management actions in the Patuxent River Estuary, Maryland. Estuaries and Coasts 31: 607–813.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Brush, G.S. and F.W. Davis. 1984. Strategraphic evidence of human disturbance in an estuary. Quaternary Research 22: 91–108.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brush, G.S., E.A. Martin, R.S. DeFries, and C.A. Rice. 1982. Comparisons of 210Pb and Pollen Methods for Determining Rates of Estuarine Sediment Accumulation. Quaternary Research 18: 196–217.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burns, S.J. 1997. Early diagenesis in Amazon fan sediments. In Proceedings of the ocean drilling program. Scientific results, ed. R.D. Flood, D.J.W. Piper, A. Klaus, and L.C. Peterson, 497–504. College Station: Ocean Drilling Program.

    Google Scholar 

  • Callendar, E. 1982. Benthic phosphorus regeneration in the Potomac River Estuary. Hydrobiologia 92: 431–446.

    Google Scholar 

  • Canfield, D.E. 1989. Reactive iron in marine sediments. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 53: 619–632.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Caraco, N.F., J.J. Cole, and G.E. Likens. 1989. Evidence for sulphate-controlled phosphorus release from sediments of aquatic systems. Nature 341: 316–318.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Caraco, N.F., J.J. Cole, and G.E. Likens. 1990. A comparison of phosphorus immobilization in sediments of freshwater and coastal marine systems. Biogeochemistry 9: 227–290.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carman, R., G. Edlund, and C. Damberg. 2000. Distribution of organic and inorganic phosphorus compounds in marine and lacustrine sediments: a 31P NMR study. Chemical Geology 163: 101–114.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cha, H.J., C.B. Lee, B.S. Kim, M.S. Choi, and K.C. Ruttenberg. 2005. Early diagenetic redistribution and burial of phosphorus in the sediments of the southwestern East Sea (Japan Sea). Marine Geology 216: 127–143.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Chambers, R.M. and W.E. Odum. 1990. Porewater oxidation, dissolved phosphate and the iron curtain: Iron–phosphorus relations in tidal freshwater marshes. Biogeochemistry 10: 37–52.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cloern, J.E. 2001. Our evolving conceptual model of the coastal eutrophication problem. Marine Ecology Progress Series 210: 223–253.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Compton, J., D. Mallinson, C. R. Glenn, G. Fillippelli, K. Follmi, G. Shields, and Y. Zanin. 2000. Variations in the global phosphorus cycle. In Marine authigenesis: from global to microbial, 21–33. SEPM (Society for Sedimentary Geology).

  • Cooper, S.R. and G.S. Brush. 1983. A 2,500-year history of anoxia and eutrophication in Chesapeake Bay. Estuaries 16: 617–626.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cornwell, J.C., D.J. Conley, M. Owens, and J.C. Stevenson. 1996. A sediment chronology of the eutrophication of Chesapeake Bay. Estuaries 19: 488–499.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Correll, D.L., T.E. Jordan, and D.E. Weller. 1992. Nutrient flux in a landscape: Effects of coastal land use and terrestrial community mosaic on nutrient transport to coastal waters. Estuaries 15: 431–442.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • D’Elia, C.F., W.R. Boynton, and J.G. Sanders. 2003. A watershed perspective on nutrient enrichment, science and policy in the Patuxent River, Maryland: 1960–2000. Estuaries 26: 171–185.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Douglas, B.C. 1991. Global Sea Level Rise. Journal of Geophysical Research 96: 6981–6992.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eaton, A.D., L.S. Clesceri, and A.E. Greenberg. 1995. Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater. Washington DC: American Public Health Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • Filippelli, G.M. 1997. Controls on phosphorus concentration and accumulation in oceanic sediments. Marine Geology 139: 231–240.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Filippelli, G.M. and M.L. Delaney. 1996. Phosphorus geochemistry of equatorial Pacific sediments. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 60: 1479–1495.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Föllmi, K.B. 1996. The phosphorus cycle, phosphogenesis and marine phosphate-rich deposits. Earth Science Reviews 40: 55–124.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fox, L.E. 1989. A model for inorganic control of phosphate concentrations in river waters. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 53: 417–428.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Froelich, P.N., M.L. Bender, N.A. Luedtke, G.R. Heath, and T. DeVries. 1982. The marine phosphorus cycle. American Journal of Science 282: 474–511.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Greene, S. E. 2005. Nutrient removal by tidal fresh and oligohaline marshes in a Chesapeake Bay tributary. Master’s thesis. University of Maryland.

  • Hartnett, H.E., R.G. Keil, J.I. Hedges, and A.H. Devol. 1998. Influence of oxygen exposure time on organic carbon preservation in continental margin sediments. Nature 391: 571–574.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hearn, P.P., D.L. Parkhurst, and E. Callender. 1983. Authigenic vivianite in Potomac River sediments: Control by ferric oxy-hydroxides. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 53: 165–177.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hicks, S.D., H.A. Debaugh Jr., and L.E. Hickman Jr. 1983. Sea level variations for the United States 1855–1980. National ocean service, U.S, 170. Rockville: Department of Commerce.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jensen, H.S. and B. Thamdrup. 1993. Iron-bound phosphorus in marine sediments as measured by bicarbonate-dithionite extraction. Hydrobiologia 253: 47–59.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Jensen, H.S., P.B. Mortensen, F.O. Andersen, and A. Jensen. 1995. Phosphorus cycling in a coastal marine sediment, Aarhus Bay, Denmark. Limnology and Oceanography 36: 908–917.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jordan, T.E., J.W. Pierce, and D.L. Correll. 1986. Flux of particulate matter in the tidal marshes and subtidal shallows of the Rhode River Estuary. Estuaries 9: 310–319.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jordan, T.E., D.L. Correll, and D.E. Weller. 1997. Relating nutrient discharges from watersheds to land use and streamflow variability. Water Resources Research 33: 2579–2590.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Jordan, T.E., D.E. Weller, and D.L. Correll. 2003. Sources of nutrient inputs to the Pauxent River estuary. Estuaries 26: 226–243.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Jordan, T.E., J.C. Cornwell, W.R. Boynton, and J.T. Anderson. 2008. Changes in phosphorus biogeochemistry along an estuarine salinity gradient: The iron conveyer belt. Limnology and Oceanography 53: 172–184.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Khan, H. and G.S. Brush. 1994. Nutrient and metal accumulation in a freshwater tidal marsh. Estuaries 17: 345–360.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kostka, J.E. and G.W. Luther. 1994. Partitioning and speciation of solid phase iron in saltmarsh sediments. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 58: 1701–1710.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kraal, P., C.P. Slomp, A. Forster, M.M.M. Kuypers, and A. Sluijs. 2009. Pyrite oxidation during sample storage determines phosphorus fractionation in carbonate-poor anoxic sediments. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 73: 3277–3290.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Krom, M.D. and R.A. Berner. 1981. The diagenesis of phosphorus in a nearshore marine sediment. Geochimica et Cosmochimica 45: 207–216.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lebo, M.E. 1991. Particle-bound phosphorus along an urbanized coastal plain estuary. Marine Chemistry 34: 225–246.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Louchouarn, P., M. Lucotte, E. Duchemin, and A.D. Vernal. 1997. Early diagenetic processes in recent sediments of the Gulf of St-Lawrence: phosphorus, carbon and iron burial rates. Marine Geology 139: 181–200.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lung, W.-S. and S. Bai. 2003. A water quality model for the Patuxent Estuary: Current conditions and predictions under changing land-use scenarios. Estuaries 26: 267–279.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Martens, C.S., R.A. Berner, and J.K. Rosenfield. 1978. Interstitial water chemistry of anoxic Long Island Sound sediments. 2. Nutrient regeneration and phosphate removal. Limnology and Oceanography 23: 605–617.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Merrill, J. Z. 1999. Tidal freshwater marshes as nutrient sinks: Particulate nutrient burial and denitrification. Ph.D. dissertation. University of Maryland.

  • Mitsch, W.J. and J.G. Gosselink. 2000. Wetlands, 3rd ed. New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nixon, S.W., J.W. Ammerman, L.P. Atkinson, V.M. Berounsky, G. Billen, W.C. Boicourt, W.R. Boynton, T.M. Church, D.M. Ditoro, R. Elmgren, J.H. Garber, A.E. Giblin, R.A. Jahnke, N.J.P. Owens, M.E.Q. Pilson, and S.P. Seitzinger. 1996. The fate of nitrogen and phosphorus at the land–sea margin of the North Atlantic Ocean. Biogeochemistry 35: 141–180.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • O’Keefe, J. A. 2007. Sediment Biogeochemistry across the Patuxent River estuarine gradient: Geochronology and Fe–S–P interactions. Master’s thesis. University of Maryland.

  • Postma, D. 1982. Pyrite and siderite formation in brackish and freshwater swamp sediments. American Journal of Science 282: 1151–1183.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Raiswell, R., F. Buckley, R.A. Berner, and T.A. Anderson. 1988. Degree of pyritization of iron as a paleoenvironmental indicator of bottom water oxygenation. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 58: 812–819.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Reitzel, K., J. Ahlgren, H. DeBrabandere, M. Waldebäck, A. Gogoll, L. Tranvik, and E. Rydin. 2007. Degradation rates of organic phosphorus in lake sediment. Biogeochemistry 82: 15–28.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Roden, E.E. and J.W. Edmonds. 1997. Phosphate mobilization in iron-rich anaerobic sediments: microbial Fe (III) oxide reduction versus iron-sulfide formation. Archiv für Hydrobiologie 139: 347–378.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ruttenberg, K.C. 1992. Development of a sequential extraction method for different forms of phosphorus in marine sediments. Limnology and Oceanography 37: 1460–1482.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ruttenberg, K.C. and R.A. Berner. 1993. Authigenic apatite formation and burial in sediments from non-upwelling continental margin environments. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 57: 991–1007.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Slomp, C.P., E.H.G. Epping, W. Helder, and W.V. Raaphorst. 1996a. A key role for iron-bound phosphorus in authigenic apatite formation in North Atlantic continental platform sediments. Journal of Marine Research 54: 1179–1205.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Slomp, C.P., S.J.V.D. Gaast, and W.V. Raaphorst. 1996b. Phosphorus binding by poorly crystalline iron oxides in North Sea sediments. Marine Chemistry 52: 55–73.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Stainton, M.P. 1973. A syringe gas-stripping procedure for gas-chromatographic determination of dissolved inorganic and organic carbon in fresh water and carbonates in sediments. Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada 30: 1441–1445.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Strom, R.N. and R.B. Biggs. 1982. Phosphorus distribution in sediments of the Delaware River Estuary. Estuaries 5: 95–101.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sundby, B., C. Gobeil, N. Silverberg, and A. Mucci. 1992. The phosphorus cycle in coastal marine sediments. Limnology and Oceanography 37: 1129–1145.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • US Environmental Protection Agency. 1994. Chesapeake bay watershed pilot project, EPA/620/R94/020. North Carolina: Research Triangle Park.

    Google Scholar 

  • Upchurch, J.B., J.K. Edzwald, and C.R. O’Melia. 1974. Phosphates in sediments of Pamlico Estuary. Environmental Science & Technology 8: 56–63.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • van der Zee, C., C.P. Slomp, and W. van Raaphorst. 2002. Authigenic P formation and reactive P burial in sediments of the Nazaré canyon on the Iberian margin (NE Atlantic). Marine Geology 185: 379–392.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Williams, J.D.H., T. Mayer, and J.O. Nriagu. 1980. Extractability of phosphorus from phosphate minerals common in soils and sediments. Soil Science Society of America Journal 44: 462–465.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zimmerman, A.R. and E.A. Canuel. 2000. A geochemical record of eutrophication and anoxia in Chesapeake Bay sediments: anthropogenic influence on organic matter composition. Marine Chemistry 69: 117–137.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

Funding was provided by National Science Foundation grant DEB-0235884, and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Science to Achieve Results (STAR) Graduate Fellowship Program. Greg Foster generously provided lab space at George Mason University. Technical assistance was provided by Nancy Goff, Joseph Miklas, Marc Sigrist, Mike Owens, and Jonathan Chester. Help also came from George Mason University students Kim Cone and Jackie Nguyen. This paper was improved by valuable and constructive suggestions from Don Kelso, Greg Foster, and two anonymous reviewers.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 75 Wilderness Court, Stafford, VA, 22556, USA

    Jeanne L. Hartzell

  2. Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, P.O. Box 28, Edgewater, MD, 21037, USA

    Thomas E. Jordan

  3. Horn Point Laboratory, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, Cambridge, MD, 21613, USA

    Jeffrey C. Cornwell

Authors
  1. Jeanne L. Hartzell
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Thomas E. Jordan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Jeffrey C. Cornwell
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jeanne L. Hartzell.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Hartzell, J.L., Jordan, T.E. & Cornwell, J.C. Phosphorus Burial in Sediments Along the Salinity Gradient of the Patuxent River, a Subestuary of the Chesapeake Bay (USA). Estuaries and Coasts 33, 92–106 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-009-9232-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-009-9232-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation