Carbonate preservation

Hartnett, H. E., Keil, R. G., Hedges, J. I., and Devol, A. H. (1998). Influence of oxygen exposure time on organic carbon preservation in continental margin sediments. Nature 391, 572-574. 

Burrows, and transport of solute in them, may contribute to dissolution by enhancing oxic degradation of organic matter near the burrow walls. However, the situation is complex, and depending on factors such as the type of burrow wall produced, cementation rather than dissolution of carbonates may be promoted. Aller s observation that the best carbonate preservation takes place in the most physically disturbed and biologically underdeveloped environments points to the need for studies of continental shelf and slope environments where carbonate dissolution could be even more intense than that observed at the sites studied in Long Island Sound. 

Reaves (1986) described another study specifically aimed at relating calcium carbonate preservation to chemical diagenesis in sediments. He compared Mercinaria shells and pore water chemistry in intertidal mud flat and tidal creek... 

Studies such as those of Berger and Soutar (1970) and Sholkovitz (1973) also point to the importance of chemical parameters in controlling calcium carbonate preservation. These authors noted that carbonate preservation is substantially greater in the sulfidic Santa Barbara basin sediments than in adjacent slope sediments that are overlain by oxic waters. This observation probably results from the fact that oxic degradation of organic matter and oxidation of sulfides are not likely to occur in this anoxic basin. 

Emerson S.R. and Bender M.L. (1981) Carbon fluxes at the sediment-water inter in the deep-sea Calcium carbonate preservation. J. Mar. Res. 39, 139-162. 

Peterson L.C. and Prell W.H. (1985b) Carbonate preservation and rates of climatic change An 800 kyr record from the Indian Ocean. In The Carbon Cycle and Atmospheric CO2 Natural Variations Archean to Present (eds. E.T. Sundquist and W.S. Broecker), pp. 251-269. 

Canfield, D.E. (1994) Factors influencing organic carbon preservation in marine sediments. Chem. Geol. 114, 315-329. 

Lee, C. (1992) Controls on organic carbon preservation the use of stratified water bodies to compare intrinsic rates of decomposition in oxic and anoxic systems. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 56, 3323-3335. 

Emerson S. (1985) Organic carbon preservation in marine sediments. In The Carbon Cycle and Atmospheric COj Natural Variations Archean to Present (ed. B. Sundquist). American Geophysical Union, Washington, DC. 

Emerson S. and Archer D. (1990) Calcium carbonate preservation in the ocean. Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. London A 331, 29-41. 

Muller P. J. and Suess E. (1979) Productivity, sedimentation rate, and sedimentary organic matter in the oceans I. Organic carbon preservation. Deep-Sea Res. 126, 1347-1362. 

Canheld D. E. (1989) Sulfate reduction and oxic respiration in marine sediments implications for organic carbon preservation in euxinic environments. Deep-Sea Res. 36(1), 121-138. 

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