SUMMARY 
The results summarized here are consistent with the hypotheses of earlier 
workers that metals forming highly insoluble sulfides will be sequestered in 
anoxic marine sediments. 
Our conclusions reflect results of a limited study on a small number of 
metals during one or two seasons in a single estuary. The conclusions are thus 
preliminary, and cannot be extrapolated to other seasons, metals or estuaries. 
Organic complexing, in particular, may render certain heavy metals far more 
soluble than would be expected from sulfide solubilities calculated, considering 
inorganic ion pairing only. 
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 
We are grateful to Scott Nixon, Candace Oviatt and colleagues, for their 
generous cooperation in collecting samples, and for the loan of sampling 
equipment. We also wish to express our appreciation to Nile Luedtke, who 
participated extensively in the pore water and benthic flux determinations, and 
scuba divers Paul Benoit, George Morrison, Allen Myers and Bob Pavia for their 
skill and care in obtaining in situ benthic flux samples. This work was 
supported by a grant from the Environmental Research Laboratory of the 
Environmental Protection Agency. 
REFERENCES 
1. Aller, Robert C. 1977. The Influence of Macrobenthos on Chemical 
Diagensis of Marine Sediments. Ph.D. Thesis, Yale University, 600 pp. 
2. Boyle, Edward G. and John M. Edmond. 1975. Determination of Trace 
Metals in Aqueous Solution by APDC Chelate Coprecipitation. In: 
Advances in Chemistry Series, No. 147, Analytical Methods in 
Oceanography (Thomas R.P. Gibb, Jr., ed.) American Chemical Society, 
pp. 44-55. 
3. Cline, J.D. 1969. Spectrophotometric Determination of Hydrogen Sulfide 
in Natural Waters. Limnology and Oceanography 74:454-458. 
4. Elderfield, H. and A. Hepworth. 1975. Diagenesis, Metals and Pollution in 
Estuaries. Marine Pollution Bulletin 6:85-87. 
5. Goldberg, E.D., W.S. Broecker, M.G. Gross and K.K. Turekian. 1971. 
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