Pore Waters and the Transformation of Nutrients in Marine Subtidal Sands

Abstract

The contents of ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, phosphates, and silicates were measured in pore waters of subtidal sands in Vostok Bay, the Sea of Japan. The exchange of nutrients between sand and pore waters was studied in the laboratory using a running-water system while percolating the ground with seawater. The composition of pore waters depended on the method and length of time spent sampling, and also on the distance from the ground surface. Statistical analysis did not reveal stable profiles of nutrient concentrations in sand. The velocities of the release and consumption of nutrients in the experiments were rather low and depended on temperature, length of time spent sampling, duration of measurements, and distance from the sand surface. Release and consumption were connected with absorption and desorption, and were not due solely to the biological process of mineralization of organic matter. Analysis of the data obtained is complicated by the canalization of the water flow in the sand and by the consolidation of the sediment during the measurements. The comparison of pore and near-bottom waters makes it possible to hypothesize that the mineralization of organic matter and the release of nutrients into the pore waters occur throughout the whole column of sediment. The mixing of the seawater and groundwater occurs as a result of advection processes, the most important of which is wave percolation.