A comparison of major and minor elemental fluxes collected in neutrally buoyant and surface-tethered sediment traps

We compare material collected in Neutrally Buoyant Sediment Traps (NBSTs) to material collected in standard Particle Interceptor Traps (PITs) deployed during June and September 2001 at the Bermuda Atlantic Time-series Study site in order to compare sediment traps with various hydrodynamic properties. Current meters located on the PITs array indicated that both experiments were conducted during conditions of relatively low horizontal flow, which are optimal conditions for the unbiased collection of sinking particles by PITs. The NBSTs and PITs both recorded a range of overall flux conditions, as supported by the fluxes of mass, particulate organic carbon, and other elements (S, Mg, Sr, Fe, Mn, Ni, Ti, P, V), which do not significantly differ between the two types of traps. However, the fluxes of Si, Ca, Al, and Ba collected by the PITs are significantly larger than the NBST fluxes of those same elements. Additionally, the fluxes of particulate organic nitrogen (PON) collected by the PITs are significantly smaller than the NBST PON fluxes. How these results compare under conditions of higher flow or differing particle characteristics cannot be assessed from this study.