Contributions of organic and inorganic matter to sediment volume and accretion in tidal wetlands at steady state.

ABSTRACT: A mixing model derived from first principles describes the bulk density (BD) of intertidal wetland sediments as a function of loss on ignition (LOI). The model assumes that the bulk volume of sediment equates to the sum of self-packing volumes of organic and mineral components or BD = 1/[LOI/k₁ + (1-LOI)/k₂], where k₁ and k₂ are the self-packing densities of the pure organic and inorganic components, respectively. The model explained 78% of the variability in total BD when fitted to 5075 measurements drawn from 33 wetlands distributed around the conterminous United States. The values of k₁ and k₂ were estimated to be 0.085 ± 0.0007 g cm^-3 and 1.99 ± 0.028 g cm^-3, respectively. Based on the fitted organi

SUBMITTER: Morris JT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5074445 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature