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The Fate of Particles and Particle-Reactive Trace Metals in Coastal Waters: Radioisotope Studies in Microcosms

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Trace Metals in Sea Water

Part of the book series: NATO Conference Series ((MARS,volume 9))

Abstract

Many trace metals rapidly adsorb to suspended particles when introduced to the water column of coastal marine environments. The transport of these particles and “particle-reactive” trace metals from the water column to the sediments was studied using radiotracer techniques in large microcosm tanks simulating Narragansett Bay.

Transfer rates of radioactive trace metals and plastic particles (“tracer microshperes”) to the sediments were much greater in mid-summer than in mid-winter. This coincided with an order-of-magnitude higher particle flux through the water column due to higher sediment resuspension rates in the summer. Laboratory experiments using settling cylinders showed that interaction between the water column and bottom sediments greatly accelerates the deposition velocities of particles. Experiments using a zooplankton cage and sediment traps in the microcosm tanks indicated further that in shallow marine environments zooplankton filter feeding is a much less important transfer process than filter-feeding by benthic organisms which may greatly increase the removal rates of particles and particle-reactive trace metals from the water column during the summer.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, New York, 10964, USA

    Peter H. Santschi, Dennis M. Adler & Michael Amdurer

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  1. Peter H. Santschi
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  2. Dennis M. Adler
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  3. Michael Amdurer
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Ocean Sciences, Sidney, British Columbia, Canada

    C. S. Wong (Editor-in-Chief) (Editor-in-Chief)

  2. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    Edward Boyle

  3. University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California, USA

    Kenneth W. Bruland

  4. University of Southampton, Southampton, UK

    J. D. Burton

  5. University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA

    Edward D. Goldberg

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© 1983 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Santschi, P.H., Adler, D.M., Amdurer, M. (1983). The Fate of Particles and Particle-Reactive Trace Metals in Coastal Waters: Radioisotope Studies in Microcosms. In: Wong, C.S., Boyle, E., Bruland, K.W., Burton, J.D., Goldberg, E.D. (eds) Trace Metals in Sea Water. NATO Conference Series, vol 9. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-6864-0_19

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-6864-0_19

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4757-6866-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4757-6864-0

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