Fluxes and behavior of radium isotopes, barium, and uranium in seven Southeastern US rivers and estuaries

Abstract

This paper demonstrates the importance of advective transport of water through permeable estuarine and salt marsh sediments. This transport delivers significant quantities of radium and barium to the coastal ocean; and, in some cases may remove significant quantities of uranium. These conclusions are based on repeated analyses of seven river–estuarine systems from North Carolina to Florida. Fluxes of radium and barium from these river systems are shown to be inadequate to balance the dissolved inventories of these elements in the South Atlantic Bight. The strong interactions that occur between surface and subsurface waters as these rivers encounter coastal marshes lead us to consider these river mouths as marsh-dominated in terms of their chemical fluxes to the ocean. Such interactions between the river and coastal marsh must be considered when estimating fluxes of material between the land and ocean.