The dissolution of silica and diffusion of reactive dissolved Si in the porewaters of river sediments are investigated using sediments of different physical and chemical properties. Three sediments are considered: (a) from sectioned cores taken from a river-bed, (b) fine organic-rich surface sediment (<5 cm depth) installed in a fluvarium channel and, (c) coarse river sediment of low organic matter content also installed in a fluvarium channel. Dissolution rates of silica are measured at 10°C using batches of suspended material. The derived dissolution rate constants show large differences between the sediments. The river bed-sediment cores had vertical concentration profiles of dissolved Si that are consistent with the diffusion and dissolution of biogenic silica. Experiments in a fluvarium channel enabled Si fluxes to be calculated from a mass-balance of the overlying solution. The results are consistent with the attainment of a steady-state concentration profile of dissolved Si in the sediment. There are no discernible effects of water velocity over the sediment between 5 and 11 cm s −1. However, at 20 cm s −1, the flux increases as a result of either entrainment of fine particles at the surface or advective effects in the surface sediment. A fluvarium experiment with the fine sediment (<125 μm) over 61 days, produced a concentration profile with the highest concentration of 1025 μmol dm −3 at a depth of 4–5 cm in the sediment. A FORTRAN program is used to model the results of the increase in dissolved Si in the overlying water and development of a concentration profile in the porewater. This leads to a sediment diffusion coefficient of 1.21×10 −9 m 2 s −1 at 8.8°C at the beginning of the experiment and rate constant k=13.1×10 −7 s −1 at pH=7.82 and average temperature of 7.6°C for the entire experiment. Fluxes measured at the sediment–surface interface and calculated assuming steady-state profiles had developed are typically 0.01–0.04 μmol m −2 (of river bed) s −1. The approach enables the efflux of dissolved Si from bottom-sediments to be estimated from dissolution rates measured using suspensions of bed-sediment.