Download or read book Biogeochemistry of Lake Erie Sediment and Pore Water written by Steely L Rebecca and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Despite decreases in the external loading of phosphorus to Lake Erie over the past thirty years the ecological health and water quality of the lake show no improvements. This study was undertaken to evaluate the quantitative significance of internal recycling of phosphorus to the lake water. Cores were collected from both the western and central basins of Lake Erie and analyzed for their pore water and solid composition. Post depositional degradation of organic matter can be identified by the disappearance of oxygen and sulfate coupled with high concentrations of iron and manganese in the upper few centimeters of the cores and increased concentrations of ammonium and bicarbonate down core. These concentrations enabled biogeochemical modeling of the chemical fluxes from the sediments to the overlying water. A mass balance method, outlined by DiTorro (2001), was used along with a Fickian diffusion model to calculate the contributing flux of phosphorus from the sediment to the water. It was found that the flux at station 91M when scaled to the entire western basin could account for 24 percent or more of the target load of phosphorus set for all of Lake Erie.