Sedimentary Geochemical Processes Affecting the Exchange of Nutrients and transition Metals Between Sediment and Water in Riverine, Estuarine, and Lacustrine Environments

Benthic sediment exchange processes are potentially a very significant source/ sink of nutrients and metals within an aquatic system. Too often the quantitative effects of these processes are only estimated when considering biogeochemical cycling and ecological responses. Understanding geochemical processes that control nutrient and transition metal chemistry of natural waters is requisite for predicting the effects man-induced events will have upon natural geochemical cycles and for determining their utilization as a natural resource (e.g. estuarine waters as food resources). Objectives of this project are to (1) study the important geochemical processes affecting the nutrient and metal composition of and exchange between sediment and water in several different aquatic environments;(2) aid in developing useful methods for determining nutrient and metal fluxes between sediment and water; and (3) assess the influence man's activities exert on their natural geochemical cycles.

REPORTS PUBLISHED 2000-2003

Long, G.R., Ayers, M.A., Callender, E., and Van Metre, P.C., 2003, Trends in chemical concentration in sediment cores from three lakes in New Jersey and one lake on Long Island, New York: U.S. Geological Survey Water-Resources Investigations Report 02-4727 (on-line report)

Callender, E., 2000, Geochemical effects of rapid sedimentation in aquatic systems: minimal diagenesis and the preservation of historical metal signatures: Journal Paleolimnology, v. 23, p. 243-260. (on-line abstract)

Callender, E., and Rice, K.C., 2000, The urban environmental gradient: Anthropogenic influences on the spatial and temporal distributions of lead and zinc in sediments: Environmental Science & Technology, v. 34, no. 2, p. 232-238. (on-line abstract)

Naftz, D.L., Stephens, D.W., Callender, E., and Van Meter, P.C., 2000, Reconstructing historical changes in the environmental health of watersheds by using sediment cores from lakes and reservoirs in Salt Lake Valley, Utah: U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet 164-00.

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