Erosion, Transport, and Sedimentation

Microbial mats and biofilms, defined as surface layers of microbes entrained in a matrix of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) (Characklis and Marshall, 1989), are also important in changing the surface texture and erodibility of sediments in estuaries (de Beer and Kiihl, 2001). The EPS are primarily composed of cellular-derived polysaccharides, polyuronic acids, proteins, nucleic acids, and lipids (Decho and Lopez, 1993 Schmidt and Ahring, 1994). The EPS can serve as a cementing agent for surface sediment particles, thereby affecting the erodibility of sediments as well as the flux of dissolved constituents across the sediment-water interface (de Beer and Kiihl, 2001). 

The sedimentation of particles in the water column represents an important mechanism for sediment transport and is most fundamentally controlled by gravitational setting. Gravitational forces, which act in a downward direction, are also opposed by the viscous resistance of water in an upward direction. The sinking speed for spherical, slow sinking, single particles is described by Stoke s law (Allen, 1985)  

It should be noted that single particles are not often found in estuaries, and that most particles generally sink as floes (see following section), nevertheless, Stokes law as a general background on the basic concept of particle settlement has been included. 

Settling of particles less than 0.5 pm is slowed by Brownian motion (random motion of small particles from thermal effects) in the water. Conversely, large sand-sized particles are not affected by viscous forces and typically generate a frontal pressure or wake as they sink. Thus, Stokes law can only apply to particles with Reynolds numbers (Re) that are less than unity. The particle Reynolds number according to Allen (1985) is defined as follows  

Coagulation processes in estuaries are affected by other factors such as clay composition, particle size, and concentration of dissolved organic matter, to mention a few. For example, early work has shown that metal hydroxides can flocculate from dis-solved/colloidal organic matter during the mixing of river-derived iron and seawater in the mixing zone of estuaries (Sholkovitz, 1976, 1978 Boyle et al, 1977 Mayer, 1982) (more details are provided on metal colloidal interactions in chapter 14). Surface sediments in 

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