Preservation of Organic Matter in Estuarine Sediments

Controls on the Preservation of Organic Matter in Estuarine Sediments 

The preservation of organic matter in coastal and estuarine sediments is believed to be principally controlled by productivity, sedimentation accumulation rate, bottom water and sediment redox conditions, and sorption as a function of specific surface area of sediments (see review, Hedges and Keil, 1995). In this section the focus will be primarily on factors controlling preservation or organic matter in estuarine sediments the use of chemical biomarkers for historical paleo-reconstruction of past estuarine environments is discussed in chapter 15. 

The first evidence for enhanced preservation with high net sediment accumulation rates in oceanic environments was presented in the context of organic burial efficiency—to 

Euxinic and semi-Euxinic Amazon delta (marine C) Amazon delta (terrestrial C) Mississippi delta (marine C) 

The strong association between organic matter and fine-grained sediments has long been speculated to be a result of sorption of organic matter to mineral surfaces (Weiler and Mills, 1965 Tanoue and Handa, 1979 Mayer, 1999). However, only more recently 

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