A laboratory chamber experiment was carried out to estimate the release of phosphate from sediments to water. The phosphate thus released originated almost exclusively from the mineralisation of organic matter. Since the release took place between the fifth and the tenth day of the experiment, the compounds undergoing mineralisation were most probably proteins, aminoacids or lipids, whose decomposition times are of the order of several days to several weeks. Principal component analysis (PCA) was applied to determine the similarities and differences in the chemical composition of the surface sediments of the Pomeranian Bay. The study area can be divided into three subregions based on PCA. The first is the estuarine region A with a distinct station located next to the Swina River estuary; the second is the central Pomeranian Bay (region B), and the third is the deep region C, with a distinct subregion in the vicinity of the Sassnitz Deep. The phosphorus flux from sediments to water was estimated at 14 x 103 t per year, but was balanced by the deposition flux of organic matter. Phosphorus deposition and release at the sediment-water interface in the Pomeranian Bay therefore play a crucial role in qualitative transformations of the phosphorus compounds, although Pomeranian Bay sediments may not be important as a source or sink of phosphorus compounds.
Seasonal changes in the chemical composition of sediments from four stations located in the Pomeranian Bay were analysed. The investigations were carried out in four periods (March and July 1996, and May and October 1997). The following parameters were investigated: organic carbon and nitrogen, total phosphorus and organic phosphorus, loss on ignition and redox potential. On the basis of these results the influence of the following processes and phenomena was noted: the early spring phytoplankton bloom dominated by diatoms (March 1996); the intense inflow of allochthonous matter brought into the Bay with the waters of the Swina (May 1997); the summer bloom of blue-green algae and dinoflagellates (July 1996); the consequences of the summer 1997 flood which occurred in southern Poland (October 1997).