The phosphorus cycle in coastal marine sediments

Abstract

Approximately half of the sedimentation flux of particulate phosphorus in the Laurentian Trough in the Gulf of St. Lawrence is mobilized within the sediment and returned to the water column. In the oxidizing surface sediment, a major portion of the sedimentation flux of organic phosphorus is mineralized, and the released phosphate is partitioned between the pore water and surface adsorption sites. Surface-adsorbed phosphate is released to the pore water as needed to replace dissolved phosphate that escapes to the overlying water. Most of the phosphate is released deeper in the sediment column from iron oxides undergoing reduction. The nonmobilized phosphorus, which is buried with the accumulating sediment, appears to consist mostly of stable minerals such as apatite. The concentration of dissolved phosphate in sediment pore waters increases sharply across the sediment-water interface from 2 µmol PO4 liter−1 in the bottom water to 6 ± 3 µmol PO4 liter−1 in the top centimeter, remains almost constant at this value down to 5–15-cm depth, and then increases rapidly with further depth. In the region of constant concentration, phosphate is buffered by adsorption-desorption equilibria with the sediment. The production rate of phosphate, the buffering capacity of the sediment, and the thickness of the diffusive boundary layer at the sediment-water interface control the shape of the pore-water profile.