Georgia Coastal Ecosystems - Long Term Ecological Research Network (LTER)

Complementary studies will include DIC, O2 and NO3 - fluxes, sediment biogeochemistry and plant and animal community composition, density and diversity. Specific processes that will be addressed by field studies and numerical simulations include: 1.

Influence of hydrological processes (evaporation, transpiration, groundwater input, marsh circulation) on the salt balance at different places in the creek-marsh complex, 2. Effects of forcing from water level gradients (barotropic mode) and density gradients (baroclinic mode) which reinforce and/or counteract at different stages of the tidal cycle, and 3. Tidal energy dissipation in and along the salt marsh/tidal creek complex which provides energy for resuspension and transport sediments; dispersion of organisms; mixing and diffusion of salt and biogeochemical constituents; and controls benthic boundary layer thickness.