Hydrology of the Ythan Estuary With Reference to Distribution of Major Nutrients and Detritus

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Abstract
INTRODUCTION A long-term ecological study is being carried out in the Ythan Estuary in north-eastern Scotland. An understanding of the hydrology of the estuary is a prerequisite for future studies into energy relationships in lower trophic levels of the food web. Much of current research into the estuarine environment is concerned with large coastal-plain systems where physical and chemical characteristics are so different from those of shallow estuaries, such as the Ythan, that comparisons of environmental data are untenable. The present investigation reports information collected between October 1966 and September 1968 on major environmental factors and their effect on the distribution of nutrients and detritus in the ecosystem. Results of a concomitant study of algal productivity in a mudflat of the estuary are reported in Leach (1970).