Behaviour of aluminium, silicon and iron in Tapi Estuary
Abstract
Behaviour od dissolved Al, Si and Fe in high energy and well-mixed Tapi Estuary in Maharashtra, India was studied under varied tidal cycles. The observed trend of variation in concentration of dissolved Al has been explained in terms of release from suspended particulate materials (SPM) dispersed by strong tidal currents to low dissolved Si containing coastal water and its subsequent removal in the estuary, enriching the estuarine SPM. This view was supported by markedly high Al content of estuarine SPM as compared to that associated with the end members. Higher, percentage of removal during spring tides as compared to neaps was attributed to large scale disturbance of bed sediment by high energy spring tides. An inverse relationship between dissolved Al and dissolved Si supported the mechanism of removal of dissolved Al through formation of authigenic clays. Behaviour of dissolved Si has explained keeping in view the occurrences of substantial biogenic removal in the river water as supported by the profiles of pH, dissolved oxygen, NO sub(3) sup(-) -N and NH sub(4) sup(+) -N which were also suggestive of some biogenic removal of dissolved Fe. In the estuary however, dissolved Fe was randomly distributed and poorly correlated with chlorinity as well as pH.
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