Ammonium adsorption in marine sediments1

Abstract
One important reaction which affects dissolved NH4+ distributions in marine sediments is reversible adsorption on sediment solids. We investigate both the temperature dependency and spatial variability of the NH4+ linear adsorption coefficient, K, in marine sediments. For a wide range of environments, because of approximately offsetting variations in sediment porosity and properties such as clay mineral and organic matter content, K is nearly constant (1.3 ± 0.1) in terrigenous, surface, marine sediments. The value of K also does not vary significantly as a function of temperature. In biogenic and very high porosity (≳0.95) sediments K may be somewhat lower than for other sedimentary environments. Sediments containing seagrass detritus such as Thalassia may be expected to exhibit relatively high K values.

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