Kinetic study of manganese behavior in the Scheldt estuary

Combination of radiochemistry with simultaneous determination of corresponding stable isotope concentration allows the study of the biogeochemical behavior of manganese in an estuarine system which is not at equilibrium. A bacterial uptake in the dark of 0.40 μM in 50 hours at 6 °C, corresponding to an uptake rate of 8 nM · h-1, was measured for the sample collected in winter. However, this biological uptake represents only 60% of the decrease in stable dissolved manganese concentration after 50 hours. Other abiotic processes inducing the precipitation of dissolved manganese are thus occurring in this low salinity region of the Scheldt estuary (Belgium).SCOPUS: cp.j