期刊名称：EQA - International Journal of Environmental Quality
印刷版ISSN：2281-4485
出版年度：2015
卷号：19
期号：1
页码：45-54
语种：English
出版社：Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna
摘要：A very hot debate is currently focused on submerged substrates that can be classified either as sediments or subaqueous soils. In this paper, the controversy is contextualized on a specific case study, i.e. the Sacca di Goro coastal lagoon facing the North Adriatic Sea. The submerged substrate has been sampled along a a E-W transect and subsequently analyzed to investigate the C-N elemental and isotopic compositions. The recorded concentration of organic carbon (OC) and nitrogen is 0.26-0.50 and 0.02-0.06 wt%, respectively, and the spatial distribution of these parameters highlights a general decrease of concentration from W to E. The carbon isotopic composition of the organic matter (δ13COC) indicates the incorporation within the substrate of significant amount of seaweed and seagrass. Seaweed prevails in the west (δ13COC down to -19‰) due to a nutrient-rich freshwater inflow (Po di Volano), whereas seagrass is preponderant eastward (δ13COC up to -10‰) in a sector of the lagoon fed by riverine waters characterized by lower nutrient load (Po di Goro). The existence of these biological components plausibly implies a lush benthic vegetation, properly rooted on the submerged floor. For this reason, in our view the substrate of the investigated lagoon can be regarded as a subaqueous soil.
关键词：subaqueous soils;coastal lagoon;Sacco di Goro, C-N isotopes
