Bioturbation
In oceanography and limnology, bioturbation is the displacement and mixing of sediment particles by benthic fauna (animals) or flora (plants). The mediators of bioturbation are typically annelid worms (e.g. polychaetes, oligochaetes), bivalves (e.g. mussels, clams), gastropods, holothurians, or any other infaunal or epifaunal organisms. Faunal activities, such as burrowing, ingestion and defecation of sediment grains, construction and maintenance of galleries, and infilling of abandoned dwellings, displace sediment grains and mix the sediment matrix. The sediment-water interface increases in area as a result of bioturbation, affecting chemical fluxes and thus exchange between the sediment and water column. Some organisms may further enhance chemical exchange by flushing their burrows with the overlying waters, a process termed bioirrigation. Benthic flora can affect sediments in a manner analogous to burrow construction and flushing by establishing root structures. Bioturbation is a diagenetic process and acts to alter the physical structure, as well as the chemical nature of the sediment.
Modelling bioturbation
Mathematical models are often used to describe sediment biogeochemistry. Commonly, these models take the form of ordinary differential equations or partial differential equations in which bioturbation appears as a diffusive term. A diffusive description is often adopted to avoid quantifying the plethora of mixing modes resulting from faunal activities. The diffusion coefficient describing the intensity of bioturbation is usually determined by fitting mathematical models to vertical distributions of natural radioactive tracers, radioisotopes resulting from nuclear weapon testing, or introduced particles, such as glass beads tagged with radionuclides.
|
