Experimental research on the impact of Corbicula flumineaon DIN exchange at a tidal flat sediment-water interface

Based on a simulative experiment and a comparison analysis, the effect of bivalve Corbiculafluminea activity on sediment-water exchange of dissolved inorganic nitrogen （DIN） is studied. The areas included three intertidal flat sites of the Changjiang （Yangtze） River estuary in China. The interface exchange flux of ammonium, nitrate and nitrite in the short experiment （6 h） was -46.4-40, -74.8-929.1 and 2.5-14.6 μmol/（m^2·h）, respectively. It was found that the burrowing activities of C. fluminea increased NH4 and NOi release from sediments to overlying water in the short-term experiment. During long-term incubation, NH4 and NOi released in turn from the sediments. At the beginning of incubation, bioturbation by C. fluminea could accelerate NH2 release from sediments 2-17 times in different sites, resulting in stronger nitrification and increased NOi concentrations in the overlying water. Sediment profile analysis post-incubation shows that organic matter mineralization and sediment-water NH4 exchange had been stimulated by C. fluminea bioturbation and bioirrigation during the experiment. Therefore, C. fluminea activities such as excretion, burrowing, irrigation and turbation can effectively alter nitrogen dynamics and accelerate and stimulate nitrogen exchange and cycling at the sediment-water interface.

Suspended sediment load in the turbidity maximum zone at the Yangtze River Estuary： The trends and causes

Based on the analysis of suspended sediment elements at estuaries, influence of human activities and estuarine regulation projects on the turbidity maximum zone was studied according to the measurement data between 1959 and 2011. It was found that human activi- ties had little effect on the seaward water while the sharp decrease of sediment volume and concentration in runoff led to the sharp decrease of turbidity maximum zone in the estuary. The concentration at outside sea and Hangzhou Bay did not change, and that along the Subei coast also decreased a little, which had no influence on the turbidity maximum zone. Com- pared with the concentration between 1959 and 1999, the peak of concentration moved up- stream in the estuary, and the concentration in 2000-2009 decreased by about 24.73% with a narrower variation range along the river to the sea. The suspended sediment concentration in North Passage was low in upstream and downstream because of the decrease of seaward sediment and coarsening of bed material, while it was relatively high in the middle due to the influence of sediment cross the north jetty.