The Benthic Boundary Layer

Abstract

Abstract The benthic boundary layer is the zone of water and sediment immediately adjacent to the bottom of a sea, lake, or river. This zone is a key environment to biologists, geochemists, sedimentologists, and engineers because of very strong gradients of energy, dissolved and solid chemical components, suspended matter, and the number of organisms that live there. It is, for example, the sink for anthropgenic substances and the home of microscopic plant life that provides the nutrients that stimulate phylogelankton productivity, and ultimately determine the size of the fish populations. This book of original chapters edited by leading researchers in the field, will meet the need for an up-to-date, definitive text and reference on principles, techniques, and models for transport and biogeochemical processes in the benthic boundary layer. Each chapter provides a comprehensive review of a selected field, with illustrated examples from the authors' own work. The book will appeal to professionals and researchers in marine biology, marine chemistry, marine engineering, and sedimentology.