Distribution and speciation of phosphorus along a salinity gradient in intertidal marsh sediments

Abstract

We examined forms of solid phosphorus fractions in intertidal marsh sediments along a salinity (0–22‰) gradient in a river-dominated estuary and in a marine-dominated salt marsh with insignificant freshwater input. Freshwater marsh sediments had the highest ratio of organic N:P of between 28:1 and 47:1 mol:mol, compared to 21:1 to 31:1 mol:mol in the saltmarshes, which is consistent with a trend toward P-limitation of primary production in freshwater and N-limitation in salt marshes. However, total P concentration, 24.7 ± 11.1 µmol P g dw-1 (±1 SD) averaged over the upper meter of sediment, was greatest in the freshwater marsh where bioavailablity of P is apparently limited. In the freshwater marsh the greatest fraction of total P (24–51%) was associated with humic acids, while the importance of humic-P decreased with increasing salinity to 1–23% in the salt marshes. Inorganic P contributed considerably less to total sediment P in the freshwater marsh (15–40%) than in the salt marshes (33–85%). In reduced sediments at all sites, phosphate bound to aluminum oxides and clays was an important inorganic P pool irrespective of salinity. Inorganic P associated with ferric iron [Fe(III)] phases was most abundant in surface sediments of freshwater and brackish marshes, while Ca-bound P dominated inorganic P pools in the salt marshes. Thus, our results showed that particle-bound P in marsh sediments exhibited changes in chemical association along the salinity gradient of an estuarine system, which is a likely consequence of changes in ionic strength and the availability of iron and calcium.