Cumulative Sulfate Loads Shift Porewater to Sulfidic Conditions in Freshwater Wetland Sediment.

ABSTRACT: It is well established that sulfide can be toxic to rooted aquatic plants. However, a detailed description of the effects of cumulative sulfate loads on sulfide and iron (Fe) porewater geochemistry, plant exposure, and ecological response is lacking. Over 4 yr, we experimentally manipulated sulfate loads to self-perpetuating wild rice (Zizania palustris) populations and monitored increases in the ratio of sulfur (S) to Fe in sediment across a range of sulfide loading rates driven by overlying water sulfate. Because natural settings are complicated by ongoing Fe and S loads from surface and groundwater, this experimental setting provides a tractable system to describe the impacts of increased S loading on Fe-S porewater geochemistry. In the experimental mesocosms, the rate of sulfide accumu

SUBMITTER: Johnson NW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6852076 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature