Phosphorus exchange in eutrophied coastal brackish water sediments—sorption pattern, potential and factors affecting them

Phosphorus (P) exchange in clayey mud sediments was investigated with desorption–sorption isotherms at 22 coastal sites in the eutrophied brackish Gulf of Finland, the Baltic Sea. The aim was to gain information on P sorption potential and pattern of oxygenated surface sediments and to elucidate factors explaining them. Modified Freundlich equation was fitted to the isotherm data and used for calculation of the P exchange parameters EPC0 (equilibrium P concentration at zero net sorption), kEPC0, k15 and k100 (P buffering capacities at early, middle and high sorption stages, respectively). They were further used to assess the P sorption potential and pattern of the sediments. Sediment properties explaining the P sorption potential at different sorption stages were identified. The greatest sorption potentials were recorded in originally poorly oxic sediments in the inner archipelago with accumulated fine particulate material, high in adsorbents for P, transported from the watersheds. After oxygenation, they were high in amorphous Fe-oxyhydroxides, which explained their efficient P sorption (kEPC0 > 1.32 l g−1). Poorer P sorption (kEPC0 0.45–0.84 l g−1) was recorded in fine sediments abundant in Al-oxyhydroxides, presumably due to their higher original P occupation degree. The lowest sorption potentials were found in the outer archipelago sediments. Their lowest specific surface areas and highest original P contents referred to scarcity of adsorbents and high occupation degree of the existing ones. These results suggest that the coastal clayey mud sediments investigated possess high P sorption potential, which can be markedly diminished by eutrophication-induced hypoxia but recovered if oxygen conditions improve.