Biogeochemistry of Estuaries

Abstract

Whether you are interested in material flux from the continents to the oceans or whether the oysters set down in front of you at a water‐front restaurant may have come from polluted waters, we know estuaries are important places. However, anyone attempting to summarize and synthesize the long and rich literature of estuarine research is presented with a daunting task. This is because beyond the concept of an estuary being the transition zone where “fresh water meets seawater,” the exact definition of an estuary is not uniformly agreed upon by scientists in this field. Also, estuaries—regardless of how they are defined—tend to be highly heterogeneous, in both space and time.