Allochthonous sediment

The stockwork-type porphyry-copper ore bodies at Kyzyl-Tu in central Kazakhstan are covered by allochthonous sediments 20-30 m thick. The conventional geochemical... 

Ricci Lucchi, F. (1987) Semi-allochthonous sedimentation in the apenninic thrust belt. Sediment. Geol., 50, 119-134. 

Since 1916 the sedimentation rate, Region III of Figure 3, has averaged 644 g m-2 yr-1 or 0.3 cm yr 1 or about 5 times the pre-cultural rate. The diversion of the Cedar River (average flow of 20 m3 s 1 into the lake in 1916 provided the water necessary to operate the ship and canal locks and contributes an estimated 4-5 x 107 kg-yr-1 of allochthonous material, Crecelius [7]. This riverine sediment input would contribute to the greater... 

Assuming a bulk density of 1.05 g/cm3 and a dry weight fraction of 0.1 for the interface sediment, 0.38 mm of sediment would supply the observed 160-m water-column burden of resuspended phases, approximately half the basinwide average annual linear sedimentation. The corresponding amount of sediment was consistent with the mass of allochthonous components in the water column during the March-May spring mixing period (200-300 mg/m3). The quantity of resuspended P was calculated as the product of mass of resuspended sediment (g/m2) and phosphorus concentration in surface sediment (mg of P/g). For a 160-m water column, the amount was 48 mg of P/m2 (25 mg of P/m2 for the mean water-column depth of 85 m). The resuspended P flux (25 mg of P/m2) was also obtained from the product of resuspended Al (mg/m2) and the P Al ratio in bottom sediment. 

On the other hand, a permanent supply of ferric oxides to the sediments is provided by sedimentation of allochthonous material. It is unknown to what extent these oxides are reactive with respect to sulfide or whether a predigestion of ferric oxides by bacteria is needed. Various studies indicate that 50% of freshwater sediment iron exists as iron oxide and 20% of the iron is reactive (72). Future studies should be directed to a better understanding of the existence of reactive iron. 

Aside from adding defined compounds, experimental additions of natural DOM mixtures suspected to vary in lability have helped test ideas about the contribution of various DOM sources to aquatic ecosystems. In a nice example using manipulation of natural DOM sources, Battin et al. (1999) used flowthrough microcosms to measure the relative uptake rates of allochthonous and autochthonous DOM by stream sediments. They documented greater than fivefold differences or more in uptake and respiration, depending on whether the DOM was extracted from soil or periphyton. Moreover, they were able to show, via transplant experiments, several cases where prior exposure to a particular source of DOM increased the ability of that community to metabolize the DOM supplied. There appears to be some preadaptation of microbial catabolic capacity when these stream biofilms were re-exposed to a familiar type of DOM. Similarly, the response of heterotrophic bacteria to carbon or nutrient addition was greatest when the source community was particularly active (Foreman et al., 1998). Kaplan et al. (1996) showed that fixed film bioreactors, colonized on one water source, were unable to rapidly metabolize DOC in water from another source. 

Direction 2. A large portion, usually >90%, of the organic matter imported from allochthonous and littoral/wetland sources to these aquatic ecosystems is predominantly in dissolved or colloidal form. Although a portion of the dissolved organic compounds may aggregate and shift to a particulate and hence gravitoidal form that may sediment out of the water, most of the imported dissolved organic matter is dispersed within the water... 

Allochthonous DON sources from terrestrial runoff, plant detritus leaching, soil leaching, sediments, and atmospheric deposition may also represent important inputs to estuaries (Berman and Bronk, 2003). DON typically represents about 60 to 69% of the TDN in rivers and estuaries (Berman and Bronk, 2003). The major components of DON include urea, dissolved combined amino acids (DCAA), DFAA, proteins, nucleic acids, amino sugars, and humic substances (Berman and Bronk, 2003). However, less than 20% of DON is chemically characterized. 

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