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Exploring the 'Birch effect' in reservoir sediments: influence of inundation history on aerobic nutrient release

journal contribution
posted on 2023-04-03, 17:14 authored by Jessica S Wilson, Darren S Baldwin
Murray-Darling Freshwater Research Centre

MDFRC item.

The release of nutrients on wetting ('the Birch effect') is well documented for terrestrial soils. The effect for aquatic sediments has received much less attention. An extreme drawdown event in a large reservoir during a period of drought presented an opportunity to test whether or not reflooding dried sediments would be a source of nutrients to the overlying water column. Wetting and drying history influences the release of ammonium, but not oxides of nitrogen, organic nitrogen, filterable reactive phosphorus or total phosphorus, from dried sediments following re-wetting. Dried reservoir sediments that have never, or have only rarely, been desiccated since the 1920s produced a pulse of ammonium on re-inundation. Conversely, dried sediments from parts of the reservoir that undergo frequent wetting and drying cycles do not release substantial amounts of ammonium on rewetting.

History

Publication Date

2008-07-01

Journal

Chemistry & Ecology.

Volume

24

Issue

6

Pagination

379-386

Publisher

England: Taylor & Francis.

Data source

arrow migration 2023-03-15 20:45. Ref: f1b71f. IDs:['http://hdl.handle.net/1959.9/512420', 'latrobe:32839']

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