Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Mat Movement In Coastal Louisiana Marshes: Effect Of Salinity And Inundation On Vegetation And Nutrient Levels, Christopher Martin Swarzenski

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

The present research compared and contrasted the physical structure of floating and rooted marshes, their differing responses to open-water salinities and inundation, as well as the nutrient distribution in the porewaters and sediment. The effects of the physical differences in the two marsh types on the ocurrence of the dominant emergent vegetation was discussed.

The main difference in physical structure of the two marsh types was the presence of a mineral, non-buoyant layer at 25-45 cm depth in the rooted marsh, which could serve as an anchor for the overlying highly organic mat layer found in both marsh types. Porewater …

The Role Of Benthic Fluxes Of Dissolved Organic Carbon In Oceanic And Sedimentary Carbon Cycling, Davd J. Burdige, Marc J. Alperin, Juliana Homstead, Christopher S. Martens

OES Faculty Publications

Benthic fluxes (sediment-water exchange) of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) represent a poorly quantified component of sedimentary and oceanic carbon cycling. In this paper we use pore water DOC data and direct DOC benthic flux measurements to begin to quantitatively examine this problem. These results suggest that marine sediments represent a significant source of DOC to the oceans, as a lower limit of the globally-integrated benthic DOC flux is comparable in magnitude to riverine inputs of organic carbon to the oceans. Benthic fluxes of DOC also appear to be similar in magnitude to other sedimentary processes such as organic carbon oxidation …