Mineralization pathways in mangrove sediments

The oxygen penetration into mangrove sediments has been found to be quite limited (Andersen Kristensen, 1988), although the penetration depth may 

The availability of sediment nutrients to microbes and plants is complicated by geochemical processes, such as the involvement of some nutrients in 

Pyrite appears to be the most important inorganic sulphur component in mangrove sediments, attaining pool sizes 50-100 times higher than acid volatile pools (Kristensen etal., 1991,1992 Holmer etal., 1994,1999 Alongi 

High-intertidal Mid-intertidal Creek bank Low-intertidal Seagrass bed 

As sulphate has been found to be present to deep depths in the mangrove sediments examined so far (e.g. Holmer etal., 1994 Alongi etal., 1998), methane production is not considered to be an important mineralization process in mangrove forests. Methane-producing bacteria are able to compete only with sulphate reducers for electron donors at low sulphate concentrations ( 200 pM), and such low concentrations have not been measured at depths of 30-50 cm examined so far. The sulphate concentration may still be as high as 8mM at these depths (Holmer etal., 1994 Alongi etal., 1998). 

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