Pyrite and oxidized iron mineral phases formed from pyrite oxidation in salt marsh and estuarine sediments

Abstract

We used scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray analysis to examine sediments from vegetated portions of three salt marshes, the Great Sippewissett Marsh (Cape Cod, MA), Sapelo Island (Georgia), and the Hackensack Meadowlands (N.J.), and from the sediments of an estuary, Newark Bay (N.J.). Pyrite particles were abundant in sediments from all sites. Both fine grained pyrite crystals and framboids were found. Single, fine grained crystals (diameter = 0.2 to 2.0 micrometers) predominated in all samples, strong evidence for rapid formation of pyrite. We also found both microcrystalline and framboidal iron-oxyhydroxide phases in many of the sediment samples. This is evidence of pyrite oxidation within the sediments and suggests that iron is conserved in salt marshes even as pyrite is oxidized. The thermodynamic stability of iron phases in marsh sediments, and recent pyrite oxidation studies in coal, suggest goethite as the crystalline iron-oxyhydroxide phase present. In addition, we sometimes found a red amorphous coating on grass roots from the Great Sippewissett and Sapelo Island marshes. This coating is likely a form of hydrated iron (III) oxide.