ORCID Identifiers

0000-0003-0843-9731

Document Type

Article

Source of Publication

Biogeochemistry

Publication Date

9-1-2017

Abstract

© 2017, The Author(s). Shelf sediments play a vital role in global biogeochemical cycling and are particularly important areas of oxygen consumption and carbon mineralisation. Total benthic oxygen uptake, the sum of diffusive and faunal mediated uptake, is a robust proxy to quantify carbon mineralisation. However, oxygen uptake rates are dynamic, due to the diagenetic processes within the sediment, and can be spatially and temporally variable. Four benthic sites in the Celtic Sea, encompassing gradients of cohesive to permeable sediments, were sampled over four cruises to capture seasonal and spatial changes in oxygen dynamics. Total oxygen uptake (TOU) rates were measured through a suite of incubation experiments and oxygen microelectrode profiles were taken across all four benthic sites to provide the oxygen penetration depth and diffusive oxygen uptake (DOU) rates. The difference between TOU and DOU allowed for quantification of the fauna mediated oxygen uptake and diffusive uptake. High resolution measurements showed clear seasonal and spatial trends, with higher oxygen uptake rates measured in cohesive sediments compared to the permeable sediment. The significant differences in oxygen dynamics between the sediment types were consistent between seasons, with increasing oxygen consumption during and after the phytoplankton bloom. Carbon mineralisation in shelf sediments is strongly influenced by sediment type and seasonality.

ISSN

0168-2563

Publisher

Springer International Publishing

Volume

135

Issue

1-2

First Page

35

Last Page

47

Disciplines

Life Sciences

Keywords

Benthic biogeochemistry, Benthic carbon cycling, Benthic mineralisation, Oxygen consumption, Shelf sea, Total oxygen uptake

Scopus ID

85016412665

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Indexed in Scopus

yes

Open Access

yes

Open Access Type

Hybrid: This publication is openly available in a subscription-based journal/series

Included in

Life Sciences Commons

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