Settling and Burial of Particulate Contaminants

Particles dropping out of the water column is a distinct process from burial of contaminants in the bed. Burial describes the removal rate of particle-bound toxic organics to deeper sediment layers from where they can no longer diffuse back into the water column. Burial is an important assimilation process for removing contaminants from biologically active zones. 

Sedimentation operates over a scale of months to years as opposed to other transport and assimilation processes. 

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