It is the purpose of the proposed research to examine how the creation of burrows and reworking of the sediment by organisms effects the rate and degree of chemical reactions within these sediments. In particular the P.I. will study the effects of these parameters on the chemical behavior of the elements manganese, nitrogen and carbon. The eventual goals of the project are: 1) to create quantitative descriptions (using a mathematical model or models) of the types of transport and reaction distribution occurring during early diagenesis, and 2) to understand better the implications of the transports and distributions on the geochemistry and ecology of the sediments.
