Contrasting Fates of Petrogenic and Biospheric Carbon in the South China Sea
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Date
2018-09-16
Publication Type
Journal Article
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yes
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Abstract
A synthesis of published and newly acquired stable and radiocarbon isotope data from soil, river, and marine particulate organic carbon (OC) from the South China Sea drainage and sedimentary basin reveals that OC derived from bedrock‐erosion (petrogenic OC) and marine productivity comprises the major contributors to bulk OC in particulate matter reaching abyssal depths, while soil‐derived OC appears negligible. Aluminum‐radiocarbon relationships of sediments suggest that soil OC initially associated with detrital terrestrial minerals is lost and replaced by marine OC during transport beyond the continental shelf. We estimate that petrogenic OC sinking to a ~30,000 km2 region of the deep northeastern South China Sea accounts for 0.6% of global petrogenic OC burial. The basin‐wide OC isotope patterns coupled with sediment trap observations highlight both the spatial variabilities of OC components as they propagate from source to sedimentary sink and the significance of petrogenic OC to deep ocean sediments.
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published
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Journal / series
Volume
45 (17)
Pages / Article No.
9077 - 9086
Publisher
American Geophysical Union
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Subject
radiocarbon; organic matter‐mineral interactions; sediment trap; sedimentology; kerogen; carbon isotopes
Organisational unit
08669 - Gruppe ClayLab
03868 - Eglinton, Timothy I. (emeritus) / Eglinton, Timothy I. (emeritus)
08619 - Labor für Ionenstrahlphysik (LIP) / Laboratory of Ion Beam Physics (LIP)