the problem of making the paths 

 there. You have made the point that 

 the concentration difference between 

 the flood and ebb tides is very 

 small. The net flux you have come 

 up with is essentially a result of 

 water balance; therefore, we have to 

 account for the water budget. This 

 marsh is consuming water over the 

 year, so we have to reconcile the 

 fate of the stored water. I'm won- 

 dering, in light of the work done 

 at South Carolina and Virginia in 

 trying to address the problem, how 

 hard it is to get a good mass balance 

 through the bridgeway with the cur- 

 rent meter measurements or area 

 height models? How good do you think 

 your measurements really are when it 

 comes to coming up with an average 

 concentration and a one spot velo- 

 city measurement in the pass? 



Answer: 



We noticed that the 



tidal amptitude is very low in this 

 area, that the current speeds were 

 very slow by measuring the current 

 with a weighted float technique. 

 This may not be state-of-the-art, 

 but it proved to replicate itself 

 very well during each measurement. 

 Since the nutrient portion of this 

 study was a small part of the over- 

 all study, I felt that at the time 

 it was the best that we could do. I 

 hope that answers your question. 



Question : Brian Fry, Port Aran- 

 sas Marine Lab. I was wondering, is 

 it possible that the water measured 

 on the flood tide actually comes back 

 on the ebb tide; that actually this 

 marsh is not very well flushed but 

 the water just goes say a hundred 

 meters downstream and then comes 

 right back? 



Answer : Well, our measurements 

 were taken at two locales (1) where 

 the Rincon Bayou intercepts the Nue- 

 ces Bay and (2) approximately two 

 miles up the bayou in the marsh. We 

 noticed, via staff gauges, signifi- 

 cant changes in tidal amplitude at 

 both measurement stations indicating 

 substantial water movement. However, 

 since the marsh is in a low tidal 

 amplitude area, most tidal pools and 

 tidal channels are not completely 

 drained during a complete tidal cy- 

 cle. Thus, in answer to your ques- 

 tion it is possible that flood and 

 ebb tide waters are one and the same 

 with respect to nutrient and particu- 

 late content and that the marsh is 

 not very well flushed. It is, how- 

 ever, difficult to imagine that this 

 phenomenon is more the rule than 

 not and that very little bay water is 

 actually transported in and out of 

 the marsh system. 



488 



