Characteristics of suspended particulate organic matter in a frontal area off northern Patagonia (Argentina).

BARRERA, F.; GARZÓN, C.J.E.; PRIOTTO, S.; LARA, R.J.

Camboriu

Congreso; XIV COLACMAR; 2011

We studied the composition of particulate organic matter in the estuarine system of El Rincón(39 ° S-41 °S) during the austral spring of 2010 aboard the RV ?Puerto Deseado?. Stations wereselected to identify different areas of the frontal Patagonian ecosystem from a biogeochemicalpoint of view. Seston was characterized determining total suspended matter (TSM), chlorophylla (Chl-a). particulate organic carbon (POC) and nitrogen (PON) content and stable isotope (d13Cand d15N) signatures According to the hydrological and geomorphological characteristics of thearea it can be divided into 3 subsystems: Coastal Waters, Saline Front and Argentine middleshelf waters. Seston concentrations were conditioned by land and ocean contributions byvertical mixing and resuspension phenomena. The seston composition showed significantdifferences in the three areas, revealing the predominance of detritic and heterotrophic fractionin the first two and an influence of active autotrophic component in the Argentine middle shelfwaters subsystem