Sediment organic carbon

Soil Organic Carbon Sediment Organic Carbon... 

Wellsbury, P., Mather, I. Parkes, R. J. (2002). Geomicrobiology of deep, low organic carbon sediments in the Woodlark Basin, Pacific Ocean. FEMS Microbiology Ecology, 42, 59-70. 

Moreover, this calculated inorganic carbon concentration does not incorporate the fact that carbon is continuously supplied into the atmosphere and oceans by degassing from metamorphism and magmatism and by the weathering of carbonate minerals and organic carbon, and is continuously consumed by the production of carbonate and organic carbon sediments (Fig. 2.9). Flence, the total DIG load of the ocean can be expected to vary over time. Finally, the uptake of atmospheric GO2 by the sea surface is a dynamic process that depends on oceanic and wind circulation interlinked. Observations suggest that the Southern Ocean sink of GO2 has weakened between 1981 and 2004 by 0.08 10 g decade" relative to the... 

DePinto, J.V., R. Raghunathan, V.J. Bierman, Jr., PW. Rodgers, T.C. Young, and S.C. Martin. 1993. Analysis of organic carbon sediment-water exchange in Green Bay, Lake Michigan. WaterSci. Tech., 28(8-9) 149-159. 

Owing to the stability of the uranyl carbonate complex, uranium is universally present in seawater at an average concentration of ca. 3.2/rgL with a daughter/parent activity ratio U) of 1.14. " In particulate matter and bottom sediments that are roughly 1 x 10 " years old, the ratio should approach unity (secular equilibrium). The principal source of dissolved uranium to the ocean is from physicochemical weathering on the continents and subsequent transport by rivers. Potentially significant oceanic U sinks include anoxic basins, organic rich sediments, phosphorites and oceanic basalts, metalliferous sediments, carbonate sediments, and saltwater marshes. " ... 

Research into the aquatic chemistry of plutonium has produced information showing how this radioelement is mobilized and transported in the environment. Field studies revealed that the sorption of plutonium onto sediments is an equilibrium process which influences the concentration in natural waters. This equilibrium process is modified by the oxidation state of the soluble plutonium and by the presence of dissolved organic carbon (DOC). Higher concentrations of fallout plutonium in natural waters are associated with higher DOC. Laboratory experiments confirm the correlation. In waters low in DOC oxidized plutonium, Pu(V), is the dominant oxidation state while reduced plutonium, Pu(III+IV), is more prevalent where high concentrations of DOC exist. Laboratory and field experiments have provided some information on the possible chemical processes which lead to changes in the oxidation state of plutonium and to its complexation by natural ligands. 

The early field studies revealed that elevated concentrations of fallout plutonium correlated with Increased concentrations of dissolved organic carbon. Experiments at Argonne National Laboratory corroborate this correlation the explanation Is probably that the organic compounds complex Pu(IV), and, hence, decrease the distribution ratio between water and sedlments(27). In these experiments the distribution ratio (Kj) between sediment and natural waters was measured as a function of DOC. Measurements of Kj In both field and laboratory experiments show an unmistakable effect of DOC upon the distribution ratio. Figure 4 shows the Inverse correlation between the K, of plutonium and concentration of DOC. 

Shimp, N.F. Schlercher, J.S. Ruch, R.R. Heck, D.B. Leland, H.V. Trace Element and Organic Carbon Accumlation in the Most Recent Sediments of Southern Lake Michigan. Environ. Geo. 1971 Notes 41, 25. 

The quantity of primary production that is exported from the upper ocean is said to be equivalent to new production (18, 19) New primary production is that associated with allocthonous nutrients (i.e., those upwelled or mixed into the euphotic zone or input via rivers and rain). In order for steady state to be maintained, an equivalent flux out of the euphotic zone is required. Earlier studies (19) suggested that sediment-trap measurements of particulate organic carbon (POC) flux were equivalent to new primary production however, recently it has become clear that these measurements probably represent only a... 

Under some circumstances transport processes other than fluid motion and molecular diffusion are important. One important example is sedimentation due to gravity acting on particulate matter submerged in a fluid, e.g., removal of dissolved sulfur from the atmosphere by precipitation scavenging, or transport of organic carbon from the surface waters to the deep... 

The case of bacterial reduction of sulfate to sulfide described by Berner (1984) provides a useful example. The dependence of sulfate reduction on sulfate concentration is shown in Fig. 5-4. Here we see that for [SO ] < 5 mM the rate is a linear function of sulfate concentration but for [SO4 ] > 10 itiM the rate is reasonably independent of sulfate concentration. The sulfate concentration in the ocean is about 28 mM and thus in shallow marine sediments the reduction rate does not depend on sulfate concentration. (The rate does depend on the concentration of organisms and the concentration of other necessary reactants - organic carbon in this case.) In freshwaters the sulfate concentration is... 

The annual primary production of organic carbon through photosynthesis is on the order of 70 Pg/yr. The major part of this carbon is decomposed or respired in a process that also involves the biogeochemical transformation of nitrogen, sulfur, and many other elements. Only a small part of the annual primary production of organic carbon escapes decomposition and is buried in marine sediments. On average. 

Note that this estimate of the annual O2 loss to weathering processes is approximately equal to the estimated annual production of oxygen estimated above. Hence, the weathering of rocks and burial of organic carbon in sediments during their formation are important processes for the oxygen content of the atmosphere. 

Sediment trap studies in the open ocean show that the flux of organic carbon at any depth is directly proportional to the rate of primary productivity in the surface water and inversely proportional to the depth of the water column (Suess, 1980) ... 

Fig. 10-15 Organic carbon fluxes with depth in the water column normalized to mean annual primary production rates at the sites of sediment trap deployment. The undulating line indicates the base of the euphotic zone the horizontal error bars reflect variations in mean annual productivity as well as replicate flux measurements during the same season or over several seasons vertical error bars are depth ranges of several sediment trap deployments and uncertainities in the exact depth location. (Reproduced with permission from E. Suess (1980). Particulate organic carbon flux in the oceans - surface productivity and oxygen utilization, Nature 288 260-263, Macmillan Magazines.)...

The main mechanism for removal of organic carbon from the ocean is burial in sediments. This flux is equal to the average global sedimentation rate for marine sediments times their weight percent organic carbon. The total sink... 

Water quality issues for the lower Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers and for the Delta include salinity, dissolved organic carbon (DOC), suspended sediment. 

Methyltins are less likely than the butyl- and octyl-tins to partition to sediments, soils, and organic carbon. Modelled data for K c suggest much lower capacity for binding to organic carbon than do measured values, often by several orders of magnitude. Measured data have been used in preference to model environmental fate of the compounds. The compounds also bind strongly to clay minerals, montmorillonite in particular. 

The BUSES model provides an estimate of the organic carbon/water partition coefficient (Koc) based on the octanol/water partition coefficient (Kow)- From these data, it is evident that the methyltins are less likely to partition onto organic carbon (in sediments, soils, biota) than are the butyl- and octyltin compormds due to then-lower partition coefficients and higher water solubilities. The 7/oc value can then be used to derive sohds/water partition coefficients in suspended matter, in sediment, and in soil using values of 10%, 5%, and 2% for organie carbon, representing typical organic carbon contents of suspended matter, sediment, and soil, respeetively. 

---