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Title: Organic carbon burial during OAE2 driven by changes in the locus of organic matter sulfurization

Abstract

Ocean Anoxic Event 2 (OAE2) was a period of dramatic disruption to the global carbon cycle when massive amounts of organic matter (OM) were buried in marine sediments via complex and controversial mechanisms. Here we investigate the role of OM sulfurization, which makes OM less available for microbial respiration, in driving variable OM preservation in OAE2 sedimentary strata from Pont d’Issole (France). We find correlations between the concentration, S:C ratio, S-isotope composition, and sulfur speciation of OM suggesting that sulfurization facilitated changes in carbon burial at this site as the chemocline moved in and out of the sediments during deposition. These patterns are reproduced by a simple model, suggesting that small changes in primary productivity could drive large changes in local OM burial in environments poised near a critical redox threshold. In conclusion, this amplifying mechanism may be central to understanding the magnitude of global carbon cycle response to environmental perturbations.

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1];  [1];  [2];  [3]; ORCiD logo [1];  [4]
  1. Washington Univ. in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO (United States)
  2. Washington Univ. in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO (United States); Johns Hopkins Univ., Baltimore, MD (United States)
  3. Stanford Univ., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
  4. Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot (Israel)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE
OSTI Identifier:
1475490
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC02-76SF00515
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Nature Communications
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 9; Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 2041-1723
Publisher:
Nature Publishing Group
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

Citation Formats

Raven, Morgan Reed, Fike, David A., Gomes, Maya L., Webb, Samuel M., Bradley, Alexander S., and McClelland, Harry-Luke O. Organic carbon burial during OAE2 driven by changes in the locus of organic matter sulfurization. United States: N. p., 2018. Web. doi:10.1038/s41467-018-05943-6.
Raven, Morgan Reed, Fike, David A., Gomes, Maya L., Webb, Samuel M., Bradley, Alexander S., & McClelland, Harry-Luke O. Organic carbon burial during OAE2 driven by changes in the locus of organic matter sulfurization. United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-05943-6
Raven, Morgan Reed, Fike, David A., Gomes, Maya L., Webb, Samuel M., Bradley, Alexander S., and McClelland, Harry-Luke O. Fri . "Organic carbon burial during OAE2 driven by changes in the locus of organic matter sulfurization". United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-05943-6. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1475490.
@article{osti_1475490,
title = {Organic carbon burial during OAE2 driven by changes in the locus of organic matter sulfurization},
author = {Raven, Morgan Reed and Fike, David A. and Gomes, Maya L. and Webb, Samuel M. and Bradley, Alexander S. and McClelland, Harry-Luke O.},
abstractNote = {Ocean Anoxic Event 2 (OAE2) was a period of dramatic disruption to the global carbon cycle when massive amounts of organic matter (OM) were buried in marine sediments via complex and controversial mechanisms. Here we investigate the role of OM sulfurization, which makes OM less available for microbial respiration, in driving variable OM preservation in OAE2 sedimentary strata from Pont d’Issole (France). We find correlations between the concentration, S:C ratio, S-isotope composition, and sulfur speciation of OM suggesting that sulfurization facilitated changes in carbon burial at this site as the chemocline moved in and out of the sediments during deposition. These patterns are reproduced by a simple model, suggesting that small changes in primary productivity could drive large changes in local OM burial in environments poised near a critical redox threshold. In conclusion, this amplifying mechanism may be central to understanding the magnitude of global carbon cycle response to environmental perturbations.},
doi = {10.1038/s41467-018-05943-6},
journal = {Nature Communications},
number = 1,
volume = 9,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Aug 24 00:00:00 EDT 2018},
month = {Fri Aug 24 00:00:00 EDT 2018}
}

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Works referencing / citing this record:

Mitigation of Extreme Ocean Anoxic Event Conditions by Organic Matter Sulfurization
journal, April 2019

  • Hülse, D.; Arndt, S.; Ridgwell, A.
  • Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology, Vol. 34, Issue 4
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Ooidal ironstones in the Meso-Cenozoic sequences in western Siberia: assessment of formation processes and relationship with regional and global earth processes
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  • Rudmin, Maxim; Banerjee, Santanu; Abdullayev, Elshan
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