The Beach Bioreactor: Unraveling the Anomaly of Intensive Remineralization above a Deep Oxycline.

ABSTRACT: High-energy beaches receive high inputs of organic matter from seawater infiltration, fueling intensive oxygen (O₂) consumption rates in the upper sand layer, which depend on seasonal variations in temperature and organic matter supply and can exceed 10 times the average subtidal rates during the growing season. Despite the intensive rates, recent studies have found deep O₂ penetration underneath, extending down several meters. To investigate this anomaly, we applied a reactive transport model to simulate O₂ supply and consumption for winter and summer conditions. Well-known conditions at a high-energy beach on Spiekeroog Island, Germany, were used to define topography, hydraulic conductivity, tide, and wave amplitudes, and the model was built using measure

SUBMITTER: Auer F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12461910 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature