The effect of temperature on organic carbon degradation in marine sediments

Alberto Malinverno; Ernesto A. Martinez

doi:10.1038/srep17861

journal article Open Access Dec 07, 2015

The effect of temperature on organic carbon degradation in marine sediments

Alberto Malinverno

Ernesto A. Martinez

Scientific Reports Vol. 5 No. 1 · Springer Science and Business Media LLC

View at Publisher Save 10.1038/srep17861

Abstract

AbstractThe degradation of sedimentary particulate organic carbon (POC) is a key carbon cycle process that fuels the deep subseafloor biosphere. The reactivity of POC is expected to decrease with increasing sediment age, severely restricting the energy available to microorganisms. Conversely, increasing temperatures during burial have been proposed to stimulate POC degradation, possibly supplying significant energy to the deep biosphere. To test the importance of temperature, we assembled POC measurements in two global sets of drill sites where sediments underwent either relatively low or high temperatures during burial, which should have resulted in different rates of POC degradation. For ages 5–10 Ma, the decrease of the average POC content with burial is clearly more pronounced in the sites with high temperature histories. Our results support the hypothesis that temperature is one of the fundamental controls on the rate of POC degradation within deeply buried marine sediments.

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Details

Published: Dec 07, 2015
Vol/Issue: 5(1)
License: View

Authors

A

Alberto Malinverno

Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, NY, USA.

E

Ernesto A. Martinez

Cite This Article

Alberto Malinverno, Ernesto A. Martinez (2015). The effect of temperature on organic carbon degradation in marine sediments. Scientific Reports, 5(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/srep17861

The effect of temperature on organic carbon degradation in marine sediments

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