Seasonal variability of benthic ammonium release in the surface sediments of the Gulf of Gdańsk (Southern Baltic Sea)

This paper describes the seasonal and spatial variations of diffusive sediment– water ammonium fluxes in the western part of the Gulf of Gdańsk (southern Baltic). It assesses the potential environmental controls of these fluxes, such as the inflow of organic matter to bottom sediments and its quality, temperature-induced degradation of organic matter, and the redox potential of sediments. Ammonium fluxes, calculated using Fick’s first law, were always in the direction from the sediment into the water column and differed significantly with respect to sediment type. Fluxes were most intensive in sediments with the highest silt-clay fraction located in the deepest parts of the study area. The mean annual diffusive fluxes of ammonium from sediments to near-bottom water were estimated at 5.24 tonnes km−2 year−1 for silty-clays, 1.85 tonnes km−2 year−1 for silty-sands and 1.03 tonnes km−2 year−1 for sandy sediments. There was a high seasonal variation, with the greatest ammonium release in summer and early autumn, when the temperature of near-bottom water was the highest. On the basis of the calculated diffusive ammonium fluxes, we estimated that approximately 2700 tonnes of N–NH+4 are released annually from the surface sediments of the western part of the Gulf of Gdańsk, providing a minimum of 10% of the mineral nitrogen essential for primary production in surface waters. Our results are undoubtedly underestimated, as we disregarded advective ammonium fluxes, which in some areas of the Gulf of Gdańsk could well be comparable to diffusive fluxes