Comparison of Two Sediment Oxygen Demand Measurement Techniques

Abstract

Measuring the sediment oxygen demand rate in deep water can be difficult. Yet this parameter can be a significant component in ecological models of deep water systems. The results of a study to characterize the oxygen demand in the benthos of more than 210 km (130 mi) of the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway are presented here. Sampling was performed with a modified Shelby tube apparatus, which allowed the collection of samples at depths of more than 7 m (25 ft) without the use of divers. Results of in-situ analyses performed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are correlated with data from a sampling and laboratory methodology developed for this project. The laboratory setup used a sealed, cylindrical chamber through which water was continuously recirculated. The results of both procedures were statistically equivalent throughout the majority of the waterway. Only in areas where the channel bottom consisted of extremely porous media did the sampling and laboratory methodology yield questionable results. The results obtained indicate that sediment oxygen demand of the section of the waterway studied ranged between 0.5 g O