Cerda M., Knoppers B., Valdes J., Sifeddine Abdelfettah, Ortlieb Luc, Sabadini-Santos E. (2010). Variación espacial y temporal de las masas de agua, nutrientes y sedimentación de la materia orgánica e inorgánica en la bahía Mejillones del sur (23° S), Chile. Revista Chilena de Historia Natural, 83 (3), p. 409-420. ISSN 0716-078X.
Titre du document
Variación espacial y temporal de las masas de agua, nutrientes y sedimentación de la materia orgánica e inorgánica en la bahía Mejillones del sur (23° S), Chile
Cerda M., Knoppers B., Valdes J., Sifeddine Abdelfettah, Ortlieb Luc, Sabadini-Santos E.
Source
Revista Chilena de Historia Natural, 2010,
83 (3), p. 409-420 ISSN 0716-078X
This study addresses the spatial and temporal variability of physical-chemical properties and sedimentation rates of particulate matter of the water column at a fixed station set within Bahia de Mejillones del Sur, during the austral summer of 2003-2004. The water column was generally characterized by warmer oxygen-rich surface waters, marked stratification gradients between about 10 to 20 m depths and by colder, denser and sub-oxic upwelling waters from 30 m depths to the bottom throughout studied period. The bay was governed by three different water masses: the Surface Sub-Tropical Waters (SSTW), Sub-Antarctic Waters (SAAW) and the Equatorial Sub-Surface Waters (ESSW). The surface waters exhibited a clear alternation between weak and short (three to eight days) upwelling events and longer (29 days) periods of stratification. During the weak upwelling events and at the onset of the stratification periods, sub-oxic to micro-oxic conditions prevailed with elevated nutrient concentrations at the 10 to 15 m depth layer. The variability of oxygen saturation levels and of the dissolved inorganic nutrients nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and silicic acid (Si), as well as the behavior of the N:P and Si:NID ratios, indicated the important combined effects of internal recycling of the organic matter in the surface water column and of the contribution of allochthonous nutrients from upwelled bottom waters. The fortnightly variability of the total flux of particulate material collected in sediment traps in the bay suggest that material deposition from the water column is governed by the alternation of upwelling and stratification events. In addition, the sediment traps registered nitrogen impoverishment with increasing depths, suggesting that remineralisation processes affected the settling of particles and the denitrification of the oxydo-reducting deeper waters of the bay.
