Journal article
Uranium export from a sandy beach subterranean estuary in Australia
Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, Vol.198, pp.204-212
05/11/2017
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Source: InCites
Abstract
Few studies exist on the contribution of subterranean estuaries (STEs) to the oceanic uranium (U) budget. Here, we estimate the dissolved U fluxes out of a quartz sand STE located on the east coast of Australia. Our results indicate that the advective flow of seawater in permeable sands enhances cycling of U in the STE. Dissolved U concentrations ranged from 25 nM in the STE to an effective zero salinity end-member of 3.8 nM in the surface estuary. The dissolved U (salinity corrected) concentrations were positively correlated to Fe (r2 = 0.49 p < 0.001) during a shallow beach time series experiment. These results indicate that reductive dissolution of Fe oxides may be an important process maintaining high concentrations of U in shallow permeable sand STEs. The U export rates from the STE to the surface estuary in this study were estimated to be 1.8 μmol U m−2 day−1 based on shallow saline groundwater exchange pathways and 0.4 μmol U m−2 day−1 based on deep fresh submarine groundwater discharge (SGD). Uranium's behavior in STEs is diverse and site specific. Out of the seven investigations available here and in the literature, three suggested a SGD-derived U source to the coastal ocean, while four suggested a U sink within STEs removing seawater U. Therefore, it remains unclear whether SGD is a source or sink of U to the ocean and additional investigations in contrasting settings are required to resolve the global contribution of SGD to the marine U cycle.
Details
- Title
- Uranium export from a sandy beach subterranean estuary in Australia
- Creators
- Christian J Sanders (Corresponding Author) - Southern Cross UniversityIsaac R Santos - Southern Cross UniversityMahmood Sadat-Noori - Southern Cross UniversityDamien T Maher - Southern Cross UniversityCeylena Holloway - Southern Cross UniversityBernhard Schnetger - Carl von Ossietzky Universität OldenburgHans J Brumsack - Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg
- Publication Details
- Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, Vol.198, pp.204-212
- Publisher
- Elsevier Ltd
- Identifiers
- 991012831987502368
- Academic Unit
- National Marine Science Centre; School of Environment, Science and Engineering; Faculty of Science and Engineering; Science
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article