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1.
The purpose of this research was to investigate the potential causes of low oxygen levels in the bottom water of the Oyster Grounds region of the shallow southern North Sea, an area which provides suitable conditions for low oxygen levels to develop. At the end of the summer stratified period, relevant biogeochemical processes were investigated using a combination of sedimentary and water column rate measurements. Phytoplankton nitrate and ammonium uptake was measured throughout the water column using (15)N labelled isotopes and showed ammonium uptake dominated in the upper and bottom mixed layer with a maximum 294.4 micromol N m(-3)h(-1). In the deep chlorophyll maximum at the thermocline, primary production was dominated by nitrate uptake, with an average of 35.0 micromol N m(-3)h(-1), relative to ammonium uptake, with an average of 24.6 micromol N m(-3)h(-1). This high relative nitrate uptake will in part result in exportable new production to the isolated bottom mixed layer and sediments, as opposed to regenerated ammonium driven uptake. This biomass export was indicated by significant benthic oxygen consumption rates in the stratified region (782-1275 micromol O(2)m(-2)h(-1)micromol N m(-3)h(-1)) long after the end of the spring bloom. The sediments were also an active net source of nitrate, ammonium, phosphate and silicate into the bottom mixed layer of 4.4, 8.4, 2.3 and 68.8 micromol m(-2)h(-1), respectively. The export of new production within the thermocline to the bottom mixed layer and the consequent sediment oxygen consumption in the isolated bottom mixed layer in the Oyster Grounds are expected to have contributed to the low bottom water oxygen concentrations of 2.07 mg l(-1) (64.7 micromol l(-1)) measured. The long stratified period associated with this low oxygen is predicted to occur more regularly in the future and continued monitoring of this ecologically important region is therefore essential if the causes of these potentially damaging low oxygen levels are to be fully understood.  相似文献   

2.
In May and September 1999 11 stations were sampled in the southern and central North Sea, located in the German Bight, eastern Oyster Ground and Dogger Bank. The study focused on the influence of particle mixing on transport of chlorophyll a to deeper sediment layers and vertical bacterial distribution (max. DEPTH=10 cm). The sampling stations were chosen to reflect a gradient in environmental conditions in the North Sea. The sampling stations differed in respect to redox potential (eH up to −243 mV in the German Bight and up to 274 mV in the offshore regions), silt content (up to 54% in the German Bight and 0·34% at the northern Dogger Bank) and different proportion of fresh organic material on total organic matter content (C/N ratios ranging from 9·27 in the German Bight up to 1·72 in the offshore sediments). Although bacterial densities (8·55×109 g−1in the German Bight up to 0·35×109 g−1in offshore sediments) were significantly correlated to chlorophyll a content in the sediment (P<0·01), inconsistencies in the temporal pattern of both variables in the surficial sediment layer suggested, that the dynamics of bacterial densities is generally controlled by food supply but also by other variables. The chlorophyll a content in the surficial sediments of the German Bight (up to 1·84 μg g−1) was significantly higher than in the Oyster Ground (up to 0·58 μg g−1) and the Dogger Bank area (up to 0·68 μg g−1). With increasing chlorophyll a input to the benthic realm a subsequent enhanced burial of this compound into deeper sediment layers was expected either by biological (bioturbation) or by physical sediment mixing. However, the vertical profile of chlorophyll a decreased steeply in the sediments of the German Bight. Contrary, subsurface peaks were measured in the offshore areas. It was concluded from these results, that the vertical distribution of organic matter in sediments is less limited by the quantitative input from the water column but concomitant with particle mixing itself. The extent and possible mechanisms of particle mixing in the different study areas in relation to specific environmental factors is discussed.  相似文献   

3.
In February, May and August 1994, four stations in the North Sea (viz. at the Broad Fourteens, Frisian Front, German Bight and Skagerrak) were visited to sample near-bottom particulate organic matter. Samples, taken by means of a pump, a sediment trap and a sediment recorder, were analysed on organic carbon, total nitrogen, phytopigments and fatty acids. These molecular markers were used to describe the nature and quality of the organic particles in the near-bottom water. Principal component analysis showed chlorophyll a, phaeopigments and fatty acids to be useful markers for the quality of organic matter and yield complementary information.The quality of the near-bottom particles appeared to be related to the local hydrography and depositional circumstances. The Broad Fourteens station, a non-depositional sandy site along the Dutch coast, showed organic particles to be relatively fresh, little influenced by resuspended sedimentary material. Near-bottom organic particles on this site contained relatively high shares of chlorophyll a and polyunsaturated fatty acids, characteristic of algal matter. On the other hand the particulate organic material on the two depositional locations, the Frisian Front and the German Bight stations, was influenced by resuspension of sedimentary organic particles poor in pigments and fatty acids. Amounts of carbon trapped in the near-bottom environment at the Skagerrak station were lower than expected from the literature.  相似文献   

4.
During the Aegean Sea component of the EU MTP-MATER project, benthic samples were acquired along a depth gradient from two continental margins in the Aegean Sea. Sampling was undertaken during spring and summer 1997 and the microbial metabolic activities measured (Vmax for aminopeptidase activity, 14C-glutamate respiration and assimilation) displayed seasonal variability even in deep-sea conditions. The metabolic rates encountered in the North Aegean (average depth 566±234 m), were approximately five-fold higher than in the deeper (1336±140 m) Southern part of the Aegean. The aminopeptidase rates, however, were the exception with higher values recorded in the more oligotrophic sediments of the Southern stations (1383±152 vs. 766±297 nmol MCA cm−2 h−1). A discrepancy in bacterial metabolism also appeared in the near bottom waters. In the Southern stations, 80% of the glutamate uptake was used for energy yielding processes and only 20% devoted to biomass production, while in the North Aegean, most of the used glutamate was incorporated into bacterial cells. During the early burial stages, bacterial mineralization rates estimated from 14C-glutamate respiration decreased drastically compared to the rates of biopolymer hydrolysis estimated by aminopeptidase assays. Thus, at the 2-cm depth layer, these rates were only 32 and up to 77% of the corresponding average values, respectively, in the superficial layer. Such a discrepancy between the evolution of these two metabolic activities is possibly due to the rapid removal of readily utilizable monomers in the surface deposits. The correlation between bacterial respiration and total organic carbon, or total organic nitrogen, is higher in the surficial sediment (0-2 and 2-4 cm) than in the underlying layer. Conversely, it is only at 4-cm depth layer that the hydrolysis rates appear correlated with organic carbon and nitrogen concentrations. This pattern confirms the drastic degradation of organic matter during the early burial stages.  相似文献   

5.
Sediment characteristics, sediment respiration (oxygen uptake and sulphate reduction) and sediment–water nutrient exchange, in conjunction with water column structure and phytoplankton biomass were measured at five stations across the western Irish Sea front in August 2000. The transition from thermally stratified (surface to bottom temperature difference of 2.3 °C) to isothermal water (14.3 °C) occurred over a distance of 13 km. The influence of the front on phytoplankton biomass was limited to a small region of elevated near surface chlorophyll (2.23 mg m−3; 50% > biomass in mixed waters). The front clearly marked the boundary between depositional sediments (silt/clays) with elevated sediment pigment levels (≈60 mg m−2) on the western side, to pigment impoverished (<5 mg m−2) sand, through to coarse sand and shell fragments on the eastern side. Maximal rates of sedimentary respiration on the western stratified side of the front e.g. oxygen uptake S2 (852 μmol O2 m−2 h−1) and sulphate reduction at S1 (149 μmol SO42− m−2 h−1), coupled to significant efflux of nitrate and silicate at the western stations indicate closer benthic–pelagic coupling in the western Irish Sea. Whether this simply reflects the input of phytodetritus from the overlying water column or entrapment and settlement of pelagic production from other regions of the Irish Sea cannot yet be resolved.  相似文献   

6.
In situ measurements of ammonium and carbon dioxide fluxes were performed using benthic chambers at the end of spring and the end of summer in two soft-bottom Abra alba communities of the western English Channel (North Brittany): the muddy sand community (5 m, about 10% of surface irradiance) and the fine-sand community (19 m, about 1% of surface irradiance). High rates of ammonium regeneration were measured in the two communities at the end of summer (296.03±40.07 and 201.7±62.74 μmolN m−2 h−1, respectively) as well as high respiration rates (2.60±0.94 and 2.23±0.59 mmolC m−2 h−1, respectively). Significant benthic gross primary production (up to 6.11 mmolC m−2 h−1) was measured in the muddy sand community but no benthic primary production was measured in the fine-sand community. It suggests that microphytobenthic production values used in simulations previously published for these two communities were overestimated while values of community respiration were underestimated. The study confirms that this benthic system is heterotrophic and strengthens the idea that an important pelagic-benthic coupling is required for the functioning in such coastal ecosystems.  相似文献   

7.
The water under the main thermocline in the Japan Sea is a single water mass referred to as the Japan Sea Proper Water. It can be defined as having temperature below 2.0°C, salinity above 34.00%, and dissolved oxygen below 7.0 ml 1−1. In the north most of the water above the potential temperature 0.1°C depth (about 800–1000 m) is a mode water, with σθ of 27.32 to 27.34 kg m−3. North of 40°N it has high oxygen (more than 6.00 ml 1−1) with a distinct discontinuity (oxygen-cline) at the bottom of the mode water. The most probable region for the formation of the water is the area north of 41°N between 132° and 134°E. The deeper water probably is formed in the norther area of 43°N, and directly fills the main part of the Japan Basin north of 41°N and east of 134°E.  相似文献   

8.
While acetate is generally regarded as an important intermediate in the mineralization of organic matter in anoxic sediment systems, some quantitative studies in marine systems (including our own) have measured acetate oxidation rates in excess of sulphate reduction rates where sulphate is known to be the principal electron acceptor. We revisited Skan Bay, Alaska, where we had previously made such observations, for a reexamination of acetate turnover. Measurements of acetate concentrations, production rate, oxidation rate and sulphate reduction rate as well as bioenergetic considerations led to the conclusion that acetate oxidation rate in 15–18-cm deep sediment is 1·1–1·5 μM h−1. The possibility that previous measurements were high because of a non-citric-acid-cycle pathway of acetate oxidation (suggested by recent laboratory studies) was excluded. It appears that our previous turnover measurements were high mainly because of high acetate concentrations. Procedures used for the isolation of porewater for acetate determination may influence results to an extent not previously recognized.  相似文献   

9.
The dynamics of benthic primary production and community respiration in a shallow oligotrophic, marine lagoon (Fællestrand, Denmark) was followed for 1·5 years. The shape of the annual primary production cycle was explained primarily by seasonal changes in temperature (r2 = 0·67-0·72) and daylength (r2 = 0·63), whereas temperature almost explained all variation in benthic community respiration (r2 = 0·83-0·87). On a daily basis the benthic system was autotrophic during spring and summer supplied by 'new' and 'regenerated' nitrogen and predominantly heterotrophic during fall and winter caused by light and nutrient limitation. The linear depth-relationship between porewater alkalinity and ammonium indicated that the C:N ratio of mineralized organic matter is low in spring and summer (3-6) and high in fall and winter (9-16). This is inversely related to net primary production and thus the input of labile, nitrogen-rich algal cells. Accordingly, mineralization occurred predominantly in the upper 2-5 cm of the sediment. The pool of reactive material (microalgal cells) was estimated to account for 12% of total organic carbon in the upper 3 cm, and had an average turnover time of less than 1 month in summer. Assimilation of organic carbon by benthic animals was equivalent to about 30% of the annual gross primary production. Grazing reduced chlorophyll a concentration in the sediment during summer and spring to values 30-40% lower than in winter, but maintained a 3-4 times higher specific microalgal productivity. The rapid turnover of organic carbon and nitrogen, and important role of benthic microalgae showed that the benthic community in this oligotrophic lagoon is of a very dynamic nature.  相似文献   

10.
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11.
Concentrations of Hg0 in surface waters and atmosphere of the Scheldt estuary and the North Sea are presented and their relationship with biological processes is discussed. Hg0 concentrations in the Scheldt estuary range from 0.1 to 0.38 pmol·l−1 in the winter and from 0.24 to 0.65 pmol·l−1 in the summer and show a positive relationship with phytoplankton pigments. In the North Sea Hg0 concentrations range from 0.06 to 0.8 pmol·l−1 and are higher in coastal stations. Transfer velocities across the air–sea interface were calculated using a classical shear turbulence model. Volatilization fluxes of Hg0 were calculated for the Scheldt estuary and the North Sea. For the Scheldt estuary the fluxes range from 226–284 pmol·m−2·d−1 in winter and 500–701 pmol·m−2·d−1 in summer and for the North Sea the fluxes range from 59–1110 pmol·m−2·d−1 for an average windspeed of 8.1 m·s−1. These fluxes are comparable to the wet and dry depositional fluxes to the North Sea. Hg0 formation rates necessary to balance the volatilization fluxes vary from 0.2 to 4% d−1.  相似文献   

12.
Sediment samples were collected at stations along cross-shelf transects in Onslow Bay, North Carolina, during two cruises in 1984 and 1985. Station depths ranged from 11 to 285 m. Sediment chlorophyll a concentrations ranged from 0·06 to 1·87 μg g−1 sediment (mean, 0·55), or 2·6–62·0 mg m2. Areal sediment chlorophyll a exceeded water column chlorophyll a a at 16 of 17 stations, especially at inshore and mid-shelf stations. Sediment ATP concentrations ranged from 0 to 0·67 μg g−1 sediment (mean, 0·28). Values for both biomass indicators were lowest in the depth range including the shelf break (50–99 m). Organic carbon contents of the sediments were uniformly low across the shelf, averaging 0·159% by weight. Photography of the sediments revealed extensive patches of microalgae on the sediment surface.Our data suggest that viable benthic microalgae occur across the North Carolina continental shelf. The distribution of benthic macroflora on the North Carolina shelf indicates that sufficient light and nutrients are available to support primary production out to the shelf break. Frequent storm-induced perturbations do not favour settling of phytoplankton, an alternative explanation for the presence of microalgal pigments in the sediments. Therefore, we propose that a distinct, productive benthic microflora exists across the North Carolina continental shelf.  相似文献   

13.
The oxygen consumption reflects the aerobic energy production of an animal. For fish eggs and larvae the normal oxygen consumption represents the optimal conditions for growth and development. Under the stress of environmental pollution gross deviation in oxygen uptake rate of the developing fish embryo may reflect metabolic disturbances and impede the development. Since the eggs and larvae of cod (Gadus morhua L.) are likely to be exposed to oil pollution from offshore installations in the North Sea we decided to investigate the effects of the water-soluble fraction (WSF) of North Sea crude oil on the oxygen consumption of cod eggs and larvae. The results showed that oxygen consumption of the larvae at the time of final yolk absorption (5–7 days post hatching at 5°C) is strongly suppressed by oil exposure at concentrations down to 50 ppb. No effect on the oxygen uptake, however, was found during the egg stage.  相似文献   

14.
Community metabolism and nutrient, iron (Fe) and manganese (Mn) cycling were examined in two intertidal, marine, microbial mat communities during short (4–5 days) incubations in closed, flow-through microcosms. Sediment microcosms were incubated under either light (light–dark cycles) or dark (continuous darkness) conditions to assess the effect(s) of photosynthetic oxygen production and microalgal activity on nutrient, Fe and Mn cycling. The effects of chemical redox reactions between reduced sulphur (S), Fe and Mn cycling were examined by blocking sulphate reduction, and reduced S production, with 25 mM molybdate while incubating under dark conditions.In light-incubated microcosms, negligible fluxes of nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) and trace metals were observed. A substantial sediment–water flux of reduced Fe (Fe2+) and Mn (Mn2+) was observed in microcosms incubated under continuous darkness; highest fluxes were observed in molybdate-amended microcosms. At both sites, biologically-mediated redox reactions accounted for a substantial (>50%) portion of the Fe2+and Mn2+flux. Both microbial mat communities exhibited similar rates of gross photosynthetic oxygen (O2) production, but dramatically different rates of net benthic O2flux. Distinct patterns of net O2production and trace metal cycling arose from differences in either trace metal oxide availability or reactivity (mineralogy), organic carbon mineralization rates, or sediment characteristics (porosity). Variations in the microbial community responsible for trace metal cycling could have also contributed to the pattern. The present data illustrate that chemically-mediated redox reactions between metal oxides and reduced S complicate interpretation of Fe and Mn fluxes, underscoring the need to separate chemical and biological reactions when attempting to determine the role of biological trace metal reduction in organic carbon oxidation.  相似文献   

15.
Young Sound is a deep-sill fjord in NE Greenland (74°N). Sea ice usually begins to form in late September and gains a thickness of 1.5 m topped with 0–40 cm of snow before breaking up in mid-July the following year. Primary production starts in spring when sea ice algae begin to flourish at the ice–water interface. Most biomass accumulation occurs in the lower parts of the sea ice, but sea ice algae are observed throughout the sea ice matrix. However, sea ice algal primary production in the fjord is low and often contributes only a few percent of the annual phytoplankton production. Following the break-up of ice, the immediate increase in light penetration to the water column causes a steep increase in pelagic primary production. Usually, the bloom lasts until August–September when nutrients begin to limit production in surface waters and sea ice starts to form. The grazer community, dominated by copepods, soon takes advantage of the increased phytoplankton production, and on an annual basis their carbon demand (7–11 g C m−2) is similar to phytoplankton production (6–10 g C m−2). Furthermore, the carbon demand of pelagic bacteria amounts to 7–12 g C m−2 yr−1. Thus, the carbon demand of the heterotrophic plankton is approximately twice the estimated pelagic primary production, illustrating the importance of advected carbon from the Greenland Sea and from land in fuelling the ecosystem.In the shallow parts of the fjord (<40 m) benthic primary producers dominate primary production. As a minimum estimate, a total of 41 g C m−2 yr−1 is fixed by primary production, of which phytoplankton contributes 15%, sea ice algae <1%, benthic macrophytes 62% and benthic microphytes 22%. A high and diverse benthic infauna dominated by polychaetes and bivalves exists in these shallow-water sediments (<40 m), which are colonized by benthic primary producers and in direct contact with the pelagic phytoplankton bloom. The annual benthic mineralization is 32 g C m−2 yr−1 of which megafauna accounts for 17%. In deeper waters benthic mineralization is 40% lower than in shallow waters and megafauna, primarily brittle stars, accounts for 27% of the benthic mineralization. The carbon that escapes degradation is permanently accumulated in the sediment, and for the locality investigated a rate of 7 g C m−2 yr−1 was determined.A group of walruses (up to 50 adult males) feed in the area in shallow waters (<40 m) during the short, productive, ice-free period, and they have been shown to be able to consume <3% of the standing stock of bivalves (Hiatella arctica, Mya truncata and Serripes Groenlandicus), or half of the annual bivalve somatic production. Feeding at greater depths is negligible in comparison with their feeding in the bivalve-rich shallow waters.  相似文献   

16.
PROWQM, a 1-D depth resolving model which couples physical and microbiological processes in the water column with sedimentation/resuspension and benthic mineralisation processes, has been used to simulate seasonal changes of chlorophyll, nutrients and oxygen at the PROVESS north site (59°20′N 1°00′E) in the North Sea. PROWQM is derived from the 3-D model COHERENS, and improves COHEREN's benthic and pelagic biology.The physical sub-model of PROWQM implicitly solves turbulence closure equations forced by climatological, or realistic high-frequency, meteorological and tidal data. The pelagic biological sub-model 2MPPD includes a ‘diatomy’ microplankton (mp1) and a ‘flagellatey’ (or microbial loop) microplankton (mp2), the cycling of silicon and nitrogen, slow-sinking detritus, and fast-sinking phytodetritus. Phytodetritus is formed by shear-driven aggregation of particulate material, using a simple algorithm for bulk processes that is derived by considering the interactions of single cells. The microplankton compartments include heterotrophic bacteria and protozoa as well as phytoplankton, and most microplankton rates are specified with the aid of a ‘heterotroph fraction’ parameter, which was 0.125 for mp1 and 0.6 for mp2. The microbiological system is closed by mesozooplankton grazing pressures imposed as time varying series determined from observed zooplankton abundance. The benthic boundary sub-model includes a superficial fluff layer and a nutrient element reservoir in the consolidated sediment. Particulate material in the fluff layer can be resuspended (in response to bed stress by near-bed flows), mineralised or carried by bioturbation into the underlying, consolidated, sediment, where it is mineralised and its nutrients returned to the water-column at rates mainly dependent on (implicit) macrobenthic pumping. Benthic denitrification can occur when mineralisation rates exceed oxygen supply.Verification of the PROWQM numerical implementation used test cases and checks for nutrient element conservation. Simulations with realistic forcing, for a range of parameter values, were compared with historic observations in the NOWESP data set and during FLEX76, and with those made during the PROVESS cruises in autumn 1998. PROWQM provided a good simulation of the seasonal succession from a diatom-dominated spring bloom to summer dominance by small flagellates. The simulations included sedimentation of organic matter from the spring bloom, and qualitatively realistic behaviour of the fluff layer, but decay rates were too slow and there was almost no denitrification. The simulated surface mixed layer was too shallow during the summer. Simulated annual net microplankton primary production was in between 59 and 91 g C m−2 y−1. A large proportion of mineralisation, 28–47% of nitrogen and 40–67% of silicon mineralisation, took place as a result of the decay of sinking and resuspended detritus whilst in the water column.PROWQM is discussed in relation to other models that have been used to simulate this part of the North Sea, in particular the simpler ECOHAM1 and the more complex ERSEM, and in relation to PROWQM's evolution from COHERENS.  相似文献   

17.
Accumulation of total CO2 (CT) was investigated in the sub-halocline deep water of the Gotland Sea (Baltic Sea) during a period of stagnation from 1995 to 1999. Depth profiles for CT, nitrate, phosphate, and oxygen were measured during seven cruises in a grid consisting of 26 stations. The mean CT increased by more than 60 μmol/kg from October 1995 to July 1999 corresponding to a mean accumulation rate of 1.1 mol/m2 year. Taking into account vertical mixing, the vertical distribution of the CT accumulation was used to determine mineralization rates at different depths. High rates immediately below the halocline indicated the existence of a fraction of organic matter, which is rapidly mineralized during sinking through the water column. A second fraction is more refractive and accumulates at the sediment surface in the deep center of the basin where it is slowly mineralized and partly buried. Phosphate release rates in anoxic waters and especially at the redoxcline were substantially higher than those estimated on the basis of the carbon mineralization and the Redfield C/P ratio. This is attributed to non-Redfield mineralization ratios and the dissolution of iron oxide/phosphate associates. The formation of nitrate by mineralization under oxic conditions was almost completely compensated by denitrification. Using the carbon mineralization rates and a C/N ratio of 8.4, a denitrification rate of 280 mmol/m2 year was obtained, which approximately balances the input of nitrate/ammonia into the surface water. Relating the apparent oxygen utilization (AOU) to the CT fraction that was generated by mineralization yielded a carbon mineralization/O2 consumption ratio of 0.83.  相似文献   

18.
The benthic food web of the deep Faroe–Shetland Channel (FSC) was modelled by using the linear inverse modelling methodology. The reconstruction of carbon pathways by inverse analysis was based on benthic oxygen uptake rates, biomass data and transfer of labile carbon through the food web as revealed by a pulse-chase experiment. Carbon deposition was estimated at 2.2 mmol C m−2 d−1. Approximately 69% of the deposited carbon was respired by the benthic community with bacteria being responsible for 70% of the total respiration. The major fraction of the labile detritus flux was recycled within the microbial loop leaving merely 2% of the deposited labile phytodetritus available for metazoan consumption. Bacteria assimilated carbon at high efficiency (0.55) but only 24% of bacterial production was grazed by metazoans; the remaining returned to the dissolved organic matter pool due to viral lysis. Refractory detritus was the basal food resource for nematodes covering ∼99% of their carbon requirements. On the contrary, macrofauna seemed to obtain the major part of their metabolic needs from bacteria (49% of macrofaunal consumption). Labile detritus transfer was well-constrained, based on the data from the pulse-chase experiment, but appeared to be of limited importance to the diet of the examined benthic organisms (<1% and 5% of carbon requirements of nematodes and macrofauna respectively). Predation on nematodes was generally low with the exception of sub-surface deposit-feeding polychaetes that obtained 35% of their energy requirements from nematode ingestion. Carnivorous polychaetes also covered 35% of their carbon demand through predation although the preferred prey, in this case, was other macrofaunal animals rather than nematodes. Bacteria and detritus contributed 53% and 12% to the total carbon ingestion of carnivorous polychaetes suggesting a high degree of omnivory among higher consumers in the FSC benthic food web. Overall, this study provided a unique insight into the functioning of a deep-sea benthic community and demonstrated how conventional data can be exploited further when combined with state-of-the-art modelling approaches.  相似文献   

19.
A new approach to predict biogenic particle fluxes to the seafloor is presented, which is based on diffusive oxygen uptake and, in particular, opal fluxes to the seafloor. For this purpose, we used a recently published empirical equation coupling benthic silica to oxygen fluxes, and showing a clear negative correlation between Si and O2 fluxes. Dissolution of biogenic silica mediated by aerobic microbial activity has been inferred at 24 sites along the African and South American continental margins. Based on the assumption that these findings hold essentially for the entire Southern Atlantic Ocean, we applied the silica to oxygen flux ratio to a basin-wide grid of diffusive oxygen uptake extracted from the literature. Assuming that the silica release across the sediment-water interface equals the particulate flux of biogenic opal to the seafloor, we estimated minimum opal rain rates. We combined these calculations with published relationships between aerobic organic carbon mineralization and dissolution rates of calcite above the hydrographical lysocline, thereby assessing the calcite rain rate and particulate organic carbon flux to the seafloor. The addition of the buried fraction completes our budget of biogenic particulate rain fluxes. The combination of such empirical equations provides a powerful and convenient tool which greatly facilitates future investigations of biogenic particle fluxes to the seafloor.  相似文献   

20.
A study of organic carbon mineralization from the Congo continental shelf to the abyssal plain through the Congo submarine channel and Angola Margin was undertaken using in situ measurements of sediment oxygen demand as a tracer of benthic carbon recycling. Two measurement techniques were coupled on a single autonomous platform: in situ benthic chambers and microelectrodes, which provided total and diffusive oxygen uptake as well as oxygen microdistributions in porewaters. In addition, sediment trap fluxes, sediment composition (Org-C, Tot-N, CaCO3, porosity) and radionuclide profiles provided measurements of, respectively input fluxes and burial rate of organic and inorganic compounds.The in situ results show that the oxygen consumption on this margin close to the Congo River is high with values of total oxygen uptake (TOU) of 4±0.6, 3.6±0.5 mmol m−2 d−1 at 1300 and 3100 m depth, respectively, and between 1.9±0.3 and 2.4±0.2 mmol m−2 d−1 at 4000 m depth. Diffusive oxygen uptakes (DOU) were 2.8±1.1, 2.3±0.8, 0.8±0.3 and 1.2±0.1 mmol m−2 d−1, respectively at the same depths. The magnitude of the oxygen demands on the slope is correlated with water depth but is not correlated with the proximity of the submarine channel–levee system, which indicates that cross-slope transport processes are active over the entire margin. Comparison of the vertical flux of organic carbon with its mineralization and burial reveal that this lateral input is very important since the sum of recycling and burial in the sediments is 5–8 times larger than the vertical flux recorded in traps.Transfer of material from the Congo River occurs through turbidity currents channelled in the Congo valley, which are subsequently deposited in the Lobe zone in the Congo fan below 4800 m. Ship board measurements of oxygen profiles indicate large mineralization rates of organic carbon in this zone, which agrees with the high organic carbon content (3%) and the large sedimentation rate (19 mm y−1) found on this site. The Lobe region could receive as high as 19 mol C m−2 y−1, 1/3 being mineralized and 2/3 being buried and could constitute the largest depocenter of organic carbon in the South Atlantic.  相似文献   

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