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Science 18 April 1980:
Vol. 208. no. 4441, pp. 285 - 288
DOI: 10.1126/science.208.4441.285
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Articles

Sediment-Water Chemical Exchange in the Coastal Zone Traced by in situ Radon-222 Flux Measurements

CHRISTOPHER S. MARTENS 1, GEORGE W. KIPPHUT 2, and J. VAL KLUMP 3

1 Marine Sciences Program, Venable Hall, and Department of Geology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill 27514
2 Instituite of Marine Sciences, University of North Carolina, Morehead City 28557
3 Marine Sciences Program, University of North Carolina

In situ radon-222 flux experiments conducted in benthic chambers in Cape Lookout Bight, a small marine basin on the North Carolina coast, reveal that enhanced chemical transport across the sediment-water interface during summer months is caused by abiogenic bubble tube structures. Transport rates for dissolved radon, methane, and ammonium more than three times greater than those predicted on the basis of molecular diffusion occur when open tubes are maintained by semi-diurnal low-tide bubbling.

Submitted on February 21, 1979
Revised on July 31, 1979


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Methane Production from Acetate and Associated Methane Fluxes from Anoxic Coastal Sediments.
F. J. Sansone, F. J. SANSONE, and C. S. MARTENS (1981)
Science 211, 707-709
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