Final Report on Pilot Study Aimed at a Coordinated Investigation of the Relationships between the Geochemistry of the Substrate and the Benthonic Biota in the Chesapeake Bay Area

摘要

It has been shown in many studies that there is a correlation between sediment size distribution and benthonic biota in the marine environment. Whether this correlation is a cause and effect one (and in which direction) has not been determined as yet. However, it was felt that it would be possibly even more important here to study the relationship between clay mineral types and amounts and the benthonic biota because it is well known that in the terrestrial environment clay minerals serve as the exchange sites from which land plants obtain their nutrients.