Abstract
Organic carbon sources, degradation and burial in surface marine sediments control the exchange of this carbon pool with that in the ocean and provide the key to understanding the response of the sedimentary reservoir to changing environmental conditions. We explore these subjects by organic-carbon concentration profiles and newly determined radiocarbon activities from three deep-water locations. Previous 14C studies in deep-sea1,2 and near-shore3 marine sediments revealed deep penetration of relatively recent organic carbon, some of which was believed to carry 14C from atmospheric nuclear-weapons testing. Our results suggest that the bulk of the organic matter in the surface mixed layer of marine sediments has a planktonic origin, and up to 50% of this reservoir is degradable on a timescale of ≤l,000yr; short enough to have responded to glacial–interglacial changes. The degradable fraction is estimated to be presently 50 ± 15 x 1015 g C and may have been several times larger during the past glacial period.
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Emerson, S., Stump, C., Grootes, P. et al. Estimates of degradable organic carbon in deep-sea surface sediments from 14C concentrations. Nature 329, 51–53 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1038/329051a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/329051a0
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