. The ecology of delta marshes of coastal Louisiana : a community profile . 10 20 30 DISTANCE FROM GULF (km) in free soil chenier plain from the gul f Figure 33. The decrease water salinity (mg/g) of marshes with distance (km) (Rainey 1979). Soil Nutrients The nutrient content of delta marshes is quite well known from a comprehensive set of surface sediment samples taken across the whole coast by R. H. Chabreck, LSU, in 1968 and analyzed by Brupbacker et al. (1973). Rainey (1979) used the same data set to draw a number of conclusions about the factors controlling sediment nutrient concentratio
. The ecology of delta marshes of coastal Louisiana : a community profile . 10 20 30 DISTANCE FROM GULF (km) in free soil chenier plain from the gul f Figure 33. The decrease water salinity (mg/g) of marshes with distance (km) (Rainey 1979). Soil Nutrients The nutrient content of delta marshes is quite well known from a comprehensive set of surface sediment samples taken across the whole coast by R. H. Chabreck, LSU, in 1968 and analyzed by Brupbacker et al. (1973). Rainey (1979) used the same data set to draw a number of conclusions about the factors controlling sediment nutrient concentrations. Because the density of marsh soils varied from to in Chabreck's data set, a 20-fold range, Rainey converted all nutrient con- centrations to a volumetric basis as recommended by Boelter and Blake (1954), Clarke and Hannon (1967), and Mehlich (1972, 1973). When analyzed on a volumetric basis (dry mass/volume wet soil), the distribu- tion of nutrients across the marshes falls into a predictable pattern. As one would expect, the soluble ions associated with sea water [sodium {Ha), chloride (CI), potassium (K), magnesium (Mg), and total soluble salts] are closely controlled by the surface water salinity (Table 10). This is also shown in Table 11, which compares the ratio of soluble nutrients to chloride in seawater and in the different marsh zones. Sodium, K, and Mg ratios in the marsh are never more than twice the seawater ratio. Compared to the soluble ions, some of the total available ions (the soluble plus the exchangeable fractions) behave some- what differently. Total available Na is closely related to surface water salinity since it is a major component of sea water. However most available K and Mg are held in the soil exchange complex. Therefore, available K and Mg are strongly influenced by the adsorptive capacity of the soil mineral component as indicated by their high regression coefficients with bulk density in Table 10. Phosphorus distribution is also str
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