Abstract

Chesterfield Inlet NWT, a long (200 km) deep estuary, was studied in summer 1978. Its drainage basin (2.9 × 105 km2) covers sparsely vegetated shield rocks of the barren grounds. Nutrient distributions generally paralleled salinity or temperature gradients. Soluble reactive phosphorus (maximum 0.6 μg-at l–1) and total dissolved Kjeldahl nitrogen (maximum 13 μg-at l–1) were positively correlated with salinity, whereas NO3 + NO2 and SiO2 were not correlated to salinity. Minimum biomass (chlorophyll a = 0.3 μg l–1) occurred close to the mouth of the estuary, and maximum biomass (chlorophyll a = 1.9 μg l–1) was observed near the estuary head in an area of higher water residence time. The ratio of total chlorophyll a to phaeopigments was high in Baker Lake, Cross Bay and Hudson Bay, indicating that these were biomass sources, and low in the estuary, indicating senescent populations. Several parameters related to mixing processes, including a longitudinal dispersion coefficient, estuarine Richardson number, and the trap volume/channel volume ratio indicated the importance of physical processes in determining the distribution of biomass in the estuary.

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