Chesapeake Bay Surface Sediment Seasonal Study

Surface sediments (0-0.5 cm depth) were collected on 10 occasions throughout the year by gravity coring at a pair of stations with differing summer bottom water oxygen concentrations. One station was located in the central channel which experiences severe summer hypoxia (CB4.3C) and one station was located on an adjacent shoal where bottom waters are better ventilated (CB4.3W; station names associated with Chesapeake Bay Water Quality Monitoring Program). At both stations, the waters are mesohaline and the sediments are fine grained. The objective was to describe the seasonality of benthic microbial communities at paired locations with contrasting degrees of bioturbation.