Carbon balance in a salt marsh: Interactions of diffusive export, tidal deposition and rainfall-caused erosion

Abstract

Studies of the concentrations of particulate and dissolved organic carbon in the Duplin River, of the tidal exchange of POC and DOC in the marsh, of the standing stock and movement of Spartina alterniflora wrack in the Duplin, and of the removal of carbon from the surface of the marsh by rain were conducted at Sapelo Island, Georgia in order to test three hypotheses about export of carbon from the Duplin River watershed. We found that the gradients in POC and DOC concentrations are such that carbon is being transported down the Duplin River throughout the year, although in smaller quantities than previously believed. In contrast, almost all tidal exchanges within the marsh result in deposition of carbon. Most of this deposited carbon is subsequently eroded as a result of rain falling on the exposed marsh surface, and is washed back into the tidal creeks. This cycle of deposition and erosion is a possible mechanism keeping POC in the thin aerobic surface layer of the marsh, thus increasing its availability to detritivores and aerobic microbes. The standing stock of wrack is only a fraction of the S. alterniflora produced each year, and its export is a negligible term in the carbon balance equation.