Estuarine turbidity maximum

Estuarine Turbidity Maximum, Benthic Boundary Layer, and Fluid Muds... 

Columbia estuary, in the estuarine turbidity maximum. (Modified from Klinkhammer and McManus, 2001.)... 

The partitioning of trace metals between the dissolved and particulate fractions in estuaries can be affected by variability in river flow, tidal and wind energy, storms, coagulation, and flocculation in the estuarine turbidity maximum (ETM), resuspension events (of sediments and porewaters), and inputs from wetland and mudflat processes. 

Estuarine turbidity maximum a region where the suspended particulate matter (SPM) concentrations are considerably higher (10-100 times) than in adjacent river or coastal end-members in estuaries. 

Abril, G., Riou, S.A., Etcheber, H., Frankigoulle, M., deWitt, R., and Middelburg, J.J. (2000) Transient, tidal time-scale, nitrogen transformations in an estuarine turbidity maximum-fluid mud system (The Gironde, south-west France). Estuar. Coastal Shelf Sci. 50, 703-715. 

Baross, J.A., Crump B., and Simenstad, C.A. (1994) Elevated microbial loop activities in the Columbia River estuarine turbidity maximum. In Changes in Fluxes in Estuaries Implications from Science to Management (Dyer, K.R., and Orth, R.J., eds.), pp. 459 -64, Olsen and Olsen, Fredensborg, Denmark. 

Sanford, L., and E.M. Smith. (1997) Interactions between physics and biology in estuarine turbidity maximum (ETM) of Chesapeake Bay, USA. CM 1997/S 11. International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, Copenhagen, Denmark. 

Geyer, W.R. (1993) The importance of suppression of turbulence by stratification on the estuarine turbidity maximum. Estuaries 16, 113-125. 

North, E.W. and Houde, E.D. (2001) Retention of white perch and striped bass larvae biological-physical interactions in Chesapeake Bay estuarine turbidity maximum. Estuaries 24, 756-769. 

Figure 2 The fraction of metal in the dissolved phase (fd) as a function of the concentration of suspended particulate matter (SPM). The bands at the top of the diagram represent the general ranges of SPM concentrations from the open ocean through to the estuarine turbidity maximum zone (TMZ). The numbers next to the lines are values of the partition coefficients, Kb, used to estimate the value of Metals are associated with their typical Kd values and are shown next to the appropriate line.

Figure 9 Relationship between estuarine turbidity in NTU and distance from the mouth of St. Lucia Estuary, Natal, on a rising tide on 20 March 1981, showing a clear turbidity maximum 8-12 km from the estuary mouth for both near-bed (bottom) and surface (top) waters. (From Cyrus DP (1988) Turbidity and other physical factors in Natal estuarine systems. Part 1 selected estuaries. Journal of the Limnological Society of southern Africa 14(2) 60-71.)...

Mitchell SB, Lawler DM, West JR, and Couperthwaite JS (2003) Use of continuous turbidity sensor in the prediction of fine sediment transport in the turbidity maximum of the Trent Estuary, UK. Estuarine Coastal and Shelf Science 58 643-650. 

Abril, G, Etcheber, H., Le Hir, P., Bassoullet, P., Boutier, B., Frankignoulle, M. (1999) Oxic-anoxic oscillations and organic carbon mineralization in an estuarine maximum turbidity zone (The Gironde, France). Limnol. Oceanogr. 44, 1304-1315. 

Phenols derived from lignin degradation were used as markers to determine the origin of waters of the Seine estuary in France. Thus, fluvial run-off contains syringic, hydroxyben-zoic and vanillic phenols, whereas upstream penetrating marine waters contain cinnamic phenols derived from the estuarine herbs. In the maximum turbidity zone the vanillic acid (38) to vanillin (39) ratio increases due to aerobic degradation of lignin . ... 

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