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Downcore variation in sediment organic nitrogen

Nature volume 296, pages 345–347 (1982)Cite this article

Abstract

An historical record of natural (pre-cultural) and anthropogenic (influenced by man's activities) chemical inputs to the environment is contained in accumulating sediment deposits and is commonly expressed as a depositional flux1. This flux is traditionally calculated as the product of the sediment accumulation rate and the concentration of a substance in the sediment1. Previous work has quantified depositional fluxes of metals and nutrients by assuming that the vertical distribution of these substances in sediments is unaffected by post-depositional migration, chemical reaction or porosity variations2–10. We present here a procedure for calculating the historical depositional flux (loading record) of a substance which undergoes post-depositional chemical reaction in a compacting sediment column. The method is demonstrated by calculating the loading record of organic nitrogen at one locality in Lake Erie.

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Author information

Author notes

  1. John Berton Fisher

    Present address: Amoco Production Company, PO Box 591, Tulsa, Oklahoma, 74102, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geological Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, 44106, USA

    John Berton Fisher & Gerald Matisoff

  2. Department of Mechanical and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, California, 93106, USA

    W. J. Lick

Authors
  1. John Berton Fisher
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  2. Gerald Matisoff
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  3. W. J. Lick
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Fisher, J., Matisoff, G. & Lick, W. Downcore variation in sediment organic nitrogen. Nature 296, 345–347 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1038/296345a0

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