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Diagenesis of Organic Matter at the Water-Sediment Interface

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Chemistry of Marine Water and Sediments

Part of the book series: Environmental Science ((ENVSCIENCE))

Abstract

The water-sediment interface is an intense heterotrophic reactor through which organic matter must pass if it is to be preserved in sediments. The term “water-sediment interface” is not a simple descriptor. Strictly speaking, it implies a geometric surface between the water column and the sediments, but to a biogeochemist it is the “zone in which organic matter is first accumulated from the water column and is initially metabolized by the sediment heterotrophic community” (Mayer 1993). The depth of this zone may range from millimetres to a metre or more, depending on the perspective of the biogeochemist and the processes involved.

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Authors
  1. S. Wakeham
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Chimica Inorganica, Università di Palermo, Via delle Scienze, I-90128, Palermo, Italy

    Antonio Gianguzza

  2. Dipartimento di Chimica Analitica, Università di Torino, Via Pietro Giuria 5, I-10125, Torino, Italy

    Ezio Pelizzetti

  3. Dipartimento di Chimica Inorganica, Chimica Analitica e Chimica Fisica, Università di Messina, Salita Sperone 31, I-98166, Messina, Italy

    Silvio Sammartano

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© 2002 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Wakeham, S. (2002). Diagenesis of Organic Matter at the Water-Sediment Interface. In: Gianguzza, A., Pelizzetti, E., Sammartano, S. (eds) Chemistry of Marine Water and Sediments. Environmental Science. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-04935-8_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-04935-8_6

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-07559-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-662-04935-8

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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