Recycling of Organic Carbon Near the Sediment-Water Interface in Coastal Environments

Labile detrital organic matter is rapidly recycled near the sediment-water interface in both deep-sea and nearshore environments. Detailed studies of benthic organic carbon recycling at a single non-bioturbated coastal site, including direct seasonal rate determinations and sediment-water dissolved carbon flux measurements, serve to test the usefulness of a simple kinetic model for degradation based strictly on sedimentary organic carbon distribution. The model is extremely sensitive to the choice of an upper boundary concentration and becomes useful only when tuned with either the direct rate or flux data.