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. 1978 Jul;36(1):139–143. doi: 10.1128/aem.36.1.139-143.1978

Denitrification Rates in a Marine Sediment as Measured by the Acetylene Inhibition Technique

Jan Sørensen 1
PMCID: PMC243045  PMID: 16345302

Abstract

A method has been developed for measurement of denitrification activity in sediments by application of the acetylene inhibition technique. Acetylene-saturated water was injected, at close intervals, into sediment cores which were then incubated for a few hours at the in situ temperature. Frozen segments of the cores were assayed for accumulation of N2O by a combined gas extraction and detection system. The segments were thawed under a stream of helium from which N2O (and other gases) was collected in a liquid N2 trap, and the quantity of N2O was measured by gas chromatography. The maximum rate of denitrification in a coastal marine sediment was 35 nmol of N per cm3 of sediment per day at 2.5°C, and the rate of denitrification for the total sediment was 0.99 nmol of N per m2 per day.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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