Role of sediments in eutrophication—A preliminary study

Abstract

The report is divided into two parts. The first part contains the results of an extensive literature survey concerning the distribution of nutrients in waters and sediments and mechanisms for describing the mobility of phosphate nutrients in aquatic systems. The horizontal and vertical distribution of nutrients for Great Lakes waters in other U.S. as well as foreign lakes and rivers are presented. Phosphate nutrient mobility mechanisms are organized in a single table based upon two types of transformations: special and chemical. Twenty-four possible types of transformation categories are employed based upon the organic or inorganic form of the phosphate itself and the organic or inorganic type of spatial domain in which the phosphate is located. In the second part a laboratory technique to aid in the study of the hydrodynamic transport of phosphates in saturated soils is described. The technique is based upon a modification of the one dimensional consolidation test and employs radionucleid tracers. Typical test results are presented, though the complete study of the phenomenon is the subject of a subsequent project in progress.