Eutrophication of a tidal estuary

The effect of heavy fertilization of the estuary of the Forge River on growth and photo-synthesis of the phytoplankton has been studied over a e-year period. Although thcrc is distinct stratification in salinity, the nutrients added from the river arc carried seaward by the circulation without significant tendency to accumulate in the dccpcr layer. Nearly all the large amounts of organic matter accumulated in the estuary can bc accounted for as being produced locally by the dcnsc populations of plankton algae both from the relation bctwcen chlorophyll a and organic matter, and from consideration of the rate of oxidation of allocthonous organic matter in the estuary. The region provides an unique environment for the growth of phytoplankton which is shown in the photosynthesis: respiration ratios, and in the rates of photosynthesis per unit of chlorophyll, or assimilation numbers, that have been observed