ETMs are sites of intense geochemical and biological activity (process schematic). In addition to trapping rich organic particles, they actually promote merging into bigger particles ("aggregates") that are the preferred sites for bacteria to attach. These highly "bioactive" particles are then prime sources of food for consumer organisms such as zooplankton that, because of the trapping action of ETM, are able to build large populations in this region of the estuary. In the Columbia River estuary, we know that these ETM zooplankton are some of the most important prey of higher-level consumer organisms such as shrimps and fishes; they support links to the estuary's food web well beyond the ETM.

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