Impact of sampling techniques on the concentration of ammonia and sulfide in pore water of marine sediments

Three ex situ pore water sampling procedures
(I – rhizon samplers, II – centrifugation of sediment subsamples collected from different sediment depths without core sectioning, III – core sectioning and centrifugation of sediment sections) were compared to indicate factors that may affect concentrations of pore water constituents (ammonia and sulfides). The methods were selected and modified in such a way as to determine how the concentrations are affected by different factors related to sampling procedures, e.g. contact with atmospheric air, filtration and sediment core disturbance. They were tested on nine sediment cores collected at one site in the southern Baltic Sea. The concentration of ammonia in pore water from centrifuged sediment sections was significantly higher compared to pore water extracted by rhizons – probably due to the impact of changing pH. The factor with the greatest impact on the H₂S/HS− concentration in the analyzed pore water was the contact with atmospheric air and/or the extrusion of sediments from a core liner. Rhizons proved to be the best option for sampling pore waters analyzed for H₂S/HS− and NH₄₊/NH₃. In the case of H₂S/HS− we noticed the smallest loss of the analyzed constituents. For ammonia, the centrifugation of the whole sediment sections was likely to cause interferences in the indophenol blue method.

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