shallow freshwater wetland of only about 70 mg L–1, which
they attribute to a ground-water intrusion during the drier
summer months. This gradient, coupled with a
corresponding thermal gradient, is sufficient to prevent
mixing between the surface and bottom waters, with
resultant anoxia in the bottom waters.
Saline ground waters can also lead to elevated levels of
sulfate, dissolved iron and nitrate (Nines et al. 1992). Sulfate
has been implicated in the cycling of phosphorus (Carraco
et al. 1989). Sulfate-reducing bacteria use the sulfate ion for
anaerobic respiration. The respiratory end product from
sulfate reduction is hydrogen sulfide, which is a reducing
agent that can facilitate the dissolving of iron minerals with
a release of phosphorus (Boström et al. 1988). It has also
been suggested that sulfide can displace P from insoluble
Fe2+ phases (Roden and Edmonds 1997). On the other hand,
if a saline groundwater intrusion has a high level of dissolved
iron, oxidation and subsequent precipitation of the iron can
lead to the removal of phosphorus from solution (Baldwin
1996b). Similarly, increases in the concentration of calcium
can also lead to the loss of phosphorus from solution through
precipitation (House 1999).
The increase in ionic strength as a consequence of
salinisation can also disrupt chemical equilibria between
dissolved and particulate phases, either through changes to
ion activity co-efficients or through salt ions blocking
mineral surface adsorption sites (Chang 1977; Stumm and
Morgan 1996). The activity co-efficient of phosphate
decreases with increasing salinity, suggesting that phosphate
should be more soluble in saline systems than in freshwater
systems. Surface chemistry may also be disrupted with
increasing salinity as cations present in salt compete with
other ions for adsorption sites on particle surfaces. For
example, Seitzinger et al. (1991) have shown that the
concentration of exchangeable ammonium in freshwater
sediments is significantly greater than in marine sediments.
They attributed this difference to cations out-competing
ammonium ions for adsorption sites on the sediment.