The estuarine surface microlayer and trace metal cycling in a salt marsh

Abstract

The aqueous surface microlayer in a Delaware salt marsh carries an average of 10 percent of the copper, 19 percent of the zinc, and 23 percent of the iron relative to the total metal flux including the dissolved and seston components. Such trace metals cycle in the salt marsh by net import on the surface microlayer and net export in the dissolved and seston components during maximum monthly tides.