IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v9y2018i1d10.1038_s41467-018-05943-6.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Organic carbon burial during OAE2 driven by changes in the locus of organic matter sulfurization

Author

Listed:
  • Morgan Reed Raven

    (Washington University in St Louis)

  • David A. Fike

    (Washington University in St Louis)

  • Maya L. Gomes

    (Washington University in St Louis
    Johns Hopkins University)

  • Samuel M. Webb

    (Stanford University)

  • Alexander S. Bradley
  • Harry-Luke O. McClelland

    (Weizmann Institute of Science)

Abstract

Ocean Anoxic Event 2 (OAE2) was a period of dramatic disruption to the global carbon cycle when massive amounts of organic matter (OM) were buried in marine sediments via complex and controversial mechanisms. Here we investigate the role of OM sulfurization, which makes OM less available for microbial respiration, in driving variable OM preservation in OAE2 sedimentary strata from Pont d’Issole (France). We find correlations between the concentration, S:C ratio, S-isotope composition, and sulfur speciation of OM suggesting that sulfurization facilitated changes in carbon burial at this site as the chemocline moved in and out of the sediments during deposition. These patterns are reproduced by a simple model, suggesting that small changes in primary productivity could drive large changes in local OM burial in environments poised near a critical redox threshold. This amplifying mechanism may be central to understanding the magnitude of global carbon cycle response to environmental perturbations.

Suggested Citation

  • Morgan Reed Raven & David A. Fike & Maya L. Gomes & Samuel M. Webb & Alexander S. Bradley & Harry-Luke O. McClelland, 2018. "Organic carbon burial during OAE2 driven by changes in the locus of organic matter sulfurization," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 9(1), pages 1-9, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:9:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-018-05943-6
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-05943-6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-05943-6
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-018-05943-6?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:9:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-018-05943-6. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.