Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Evaluating The Biogeochemical Cycle Of Selenium In San Francisco Bay Through Modeling, Shannon L. Meseck, Gregory A. Cutter

OES Faculty Publications

A biogeochemical model was developed to simulate salinity, total suspended material, phytoplankton biomass, dissolved selenium concentrations (selenite, selenate, and organic selenide), and particulate selenium concentrations (selenite + selenate, elemental selenium, and organic selenide) in the San Francisco Bay estuary. Model-generated estuarine profiles of total dissolved selenium reproduced observed estuarine profiles at a confidence interval of 91- 99% for 8 different years under various environmental conditions. The model accurately reproduced the observed dissolved speciation at confidence intervals of 81-98% for selenite, 72-91% for selenate, and 60-96% for organic selenide. For particulate selenium, model-simulated estuarine profiles duplicated the observed behavior of total …