Millennial scale persistence of organic carbon bound to iron in Arctic marine sediments
Type | Article | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Date | 2021-01 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Language | English | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Author(s) | Faust Johan C.1, Tessin Allyson2, Fisher Ben J.1, Zindorf Mark Sebastian3, Papadaki Sonia4, Hendry Katharine R.4, Doyle Katherine A.1, März Christian1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Affiliation(s) | 1 : School of Earth and Environment, The University of Leeds, Leeds, UK 2 : Department of Geology, Kent State University, Kent, OH, USA 3 : Laboratoire Environnement Profond, Ifremer - Centre de Bretagne, Plouzané, France 4 : School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK |
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Source | Nature Communications (2041-1723) (Springer Science and Business Media LLC), 2021-01 , Vol. 12 , N. 1 , P. 275 (9p.) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
DOI | 10.1038/s41467-020-20550-0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
WOS© Times Cited | 35 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Abstract | Burial of organic material in marine sediments represents a dominant natural mechanism of long-term carbon sequestration globally, but critical aspects of this carbon sink remain unresolved. Investigation of surface sediments led to the proposition that on average 10-20% of sedimentary organic carbon is stabilised and physically protected against microbial degradation through binding to reactive metal (e.g. iron and manganese) oxides. Here we examine the long-term efficiency of this rusty carbon sink by analysing the chemical composition of sediments and pore waters from four locations in the Barents Sea. Our findings show that the carbon-iron coupling persists below the uppermost, oxygenated sediment layer over thousands of years. We further propose that authigenic coprecipitation is not the dominant factor of the carbon-iron bounding in these Arctic shelf sediments and that a substantial fraction of the organic carbon is already bound to reactive iron prior deposition on the seafloor. |
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