Benthic fluxes of dissolved nutrients and manganese from biologically disturbed, relatively unpolluted sediment in Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island, have been measured. Analyses of the vertical gradients of chemical species dissolved in pore waters and the uptake of 22Na from the overlying water permits evaluation of the contribution of biological advection and molecular diffusion to the transport of dissolved materials across the sediment‐water interface. The activity of bottom‐dwelling organisms appears to be about as important as molecular diffusion in most cases. The sum of the independently estimated contributions by both mechanisms is in good agreement with integrated benthic fluxes measured in situ. Sulfate and oxygen oxidize comparable amounts of organic matter in these sediments.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.