Organic matter burial

In Chapter 25, we will consider further the important role of the continental shelves in regulating organic matter burial. Because this type of organic matter burial is probably altered by changes in sea level, it provides a feedback in the crustal-ocean-atmosphere fectory that acts on the biogenic gases involved in global climate (CO2 and CH4) and redox (O2) control. 

Figure 8.27 Association between percent total organic matter burial and monolayer zones across a broad spectrum of marine environments. (Modified from Hedges and Keil, 1995.)...

Meyers S., Sageman B., and Lyons T. The role of sulfate reduction in organic matter degradation and molybdenum accumulation theoretical framework and application to a Cretaceous organic matter burial event, Cenomanian-Turonian OAE II. Paleoceanography (in review). 

Figure 11 Composite section of carbonate isotope stratigraphy before and after the Ghaub glaciation from Namibia. Enriched carbonates prior to glaciation indicate active primary production and organic matter burial. Successive isotopic depletion indicates a shut down in primary production as the world became covered in ice (soruce Hoffman et al., 1998).

Just as for the C-0 geochemical system, if we can reconstruct the rates of burial and oxidative weathering of sedimentary sulfide minerals through geologic time, we can use these to estimate additional sources and sinks for atmospheric O2 beyond organic matter burial and weathering. 

Using the simplihcation that AM JAt = 0, Equation (18) reduces to an equation relating the organic matter burial flux Fbg in terms of other known entities ... 

The Influence of Sedimentation Rate on Organic Matter Burial... 

The C N ratio was used to trace the variations in the organic matter source in Jiaozhou Bay sediment, and to examine the changes in the organic matter burial rate during the past one himdred years. 

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