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Dissolved and solid-phase speciation of Mn and Fe was measured in the porewaters of sediments recovered from three sites in the Greater St. Lawrence Estuary: the Saguenay Fjord, the Lower St. Lawrence Estuary (LSLE) and the Gulf of St. Lawrence (GSL). At all sites and most depths, metal organic ligand complexes (Mn(III)–L and Fe(III)–L) dominated the sedimentary porewater speciation, making up to 100% of the total dissolved Mn or Fe. We propose that these complexes play a previously underestimated role in maintaining oxidized soluble metal species in sedimentary systems and in stabilizing organic matter in the form of soluble metal–organic complexes. In the fjord porewaters, strong (log KCOND > 13.2) and weak (log KCOND < 13.2) Mn(III)–L complexes were detected, whereas only weak Mn(III)–L complexes were detected at the pelagic and hemipelagic sites of the GSL and LSLE, respectively. At the fjord site, Mn(III)–L complexes were kinetically stabilized against reduction by Fe(II), even when Fe(II) concentrations were as high as 57 μM. Only dissolved Mn(II) was released from the sediments to overlying waters, suggesting that Mn(III) may be preferentially oxidized by sedimentary microbes at or near the sediment–water interface. We calculated the dissolved Mn(II) fluxes from the sediments to the overlying waters to be 0.24 µmol cm−2 year−1 at the pelagic site (GSL), 11 µmol cm−2 year−1 at the hemipelagic site (LSLE) and 2.0 µmol cm−2 year−1 in the fjord. The higher benthic flux in the LSLE reflects the lower oxygen concentrations (dO2) of the bottom waters and sediments at this site, which favor the reductive dissolution of Mn oxides as well as the decrease in the oxidation rate of dissolved Mn(II) diffusing through the oxic layer of the sediment and its release to the overlying water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Manganese oxides, typically similar to δ-MnO2, form in the aquatic environment at near neutral pH via bacterially promoted oxidation of Mn(II) species by O2, as the reaction of [Mn(H2O)6]2+ with O2 alone is not thermodynamically favorable below pH of ~ 9. As manganese oxide species are reduced by the triphenylmethane compound leucoberbelein blue (LBB) to form the colored oxidized form of LBB (λmax = 623 nm), their concentration in the aquatic environment can be determined in aqueous environmental samples (e.g., across the oxic-anoxic interface of the Chesapeake Bay, the hemipelagic St. Lawrence Estuary and the Broadkill River estuary surrounded by salt marsh wetlands), and their reaction progress can be followed in kinetic studies. The LBB reaction with oxidized Mn solids can occur via a hydrogen atom transfer (HAT) reaction, which is a one-electron transfer process, but is unfavorable with oxidized Fe solids. HAT thermodynamics are also favorable for nitrite with LBB and MnO2 with ammonia (NH3). Reactions are unfavorable for NH4+ and sulfide with oxidized Fe and Mn solids, and NH3 with oxidized Fe solids. In laboratory studies and aquatic environments, the reduction of manganese oxides leads to the formation of Mn(III)-ligand complexes [Mn(III)L] at significant concentrations even when two-electron reductants react with MnO2. Key reductants are hydrogen sulfide, Fe(II) and organic ligands, including the siderophore desferioxamine-B. We present laboratory data on the reaction of colloidal MnO2 solutions (λmax ~ 370 nm) with these reductants. In marine waters, colloidal forms of Mn oxides (< 0.2 µm) have not been detected as Mn oxides are quantitatively trapped on 0.2-µm filters. Thus, the reactivity of Mn oxides with reductants depends on surface reactions and possible surface defects. In the case of MnO2, Mn(IV) is an inert cation in octahedral coordination; thus, an inner-sphere process is likely for electrons to go into the empty eg* conduction band of its orbitals. Using frontier molecular orbital theory and band theory, we discuss aspects of these surface reactions and possible surface defects that may promote MnO2 reduction using laboratory and field data for the reaction of MnO2 with hydrogen sulfide and other reductants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]