Redox cycling of iron and manganese in sediments of the Kalix River estuary, Northern Sweden

Abstract

Iron and manganese redox cycling in the sediment — water interface region in the Kalix River estuary was investigated by using sediment trap data, pore-water and solid-phase sediment data. Nondetrital phases (presumably reactive Fe and Mn oxides) form substantial fractions of the total settling flux of Fe and Mn (51% of Fetotal and 84% of Mntotal). A steady-state box model reveals that nondetrital Fe and Mn differ considerably in reactivity during post-depositional redox cycling in the sediment. The production rate of dissolved Mn (1.6 mmol m−2 d−1) exceeded the depositional flux of nondetrital Mn (0.27 mmol m−2 d−1) by a factor of about 6. In contrast, the production rate of upwardly diffusing pore-water Fe (0.77 mmol m−2 d−1) amounted to only 22% of the depositional flux of nondetrital Fe (3.5 mmol m−2 d−1). Upwardly diffusing pore-water Fe and Mn are effectively oxidized and trapped in the oxic surface layer of the sediment, resulting in negligible benthic effluxes of Fe and Mn. Consequently, the concentrations of nondetrital Fe and Mn in permanently deposited, anoxic sediment are similar to those in the settling material. Reactive Fe oxides appear to form a substantial fraction of this buried, non-detrital Fe. The in-situ oxidation rates of Fe and Mn are tentatively estimated to be 0.51 and 0.16–1.7 μmol cm−3 d−1, respectively.