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The Dynamics of Benthic Respiration at a Mid-Shelf Station Off Oregon

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Abstract

Mid-shelf sediments off the Oregon coast are characterized as fine sands that trap and remineralize phytodetritus leading to the consumption of significant quantities of dissolved oxygen. Sediment oxygen consumption (SOC) can be delayed from seasonal organic matter inputs because of a transient buildup of reduced constituents during periods of quiescent physical processes. Between 2009 and 2013, benthic oxygen exchange rates were measured using the noninvasive eddy covariance (EC) method five separate times at a single 80-m station. Ancillary measurements included in situ microprofiles of oxygen at the sediment–water interface, and concentration profiles of pore water nutrients and trace metals, and solid-phase organic C and sulfide minerals from cores. Sediment cores were also incubated to derive anaerobic respiration rates. The EC measurements were made during spring, summer, and fall conditions, and they produced average benthic oxygen flux estimates that varied between −2 and −15 mmol m−2 d−1. The EC oxygen fluxes were most highly correlated with bottom-sensed, significant wave heights (H s). The relationship with H s was used with an annual record of deepwater swell heights to predict an integrated oxygen consumption rate for the mid-shelf of 1.5 mol m−2 for the upwelling season (May–September) and 6.8 mol m−2 y−1. The annual prediction requires that SOC rates are enhanced in the winter because of sand filtering and pore water advection under large waves, and it counters budgets that assume a dominance of organic matter export from the shelf. Refined budgets will require winter flux measurements and observations from cross-shelf transects over multiple years.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under Grant OCE-1061218. Peter Chace’s participation was funded by the NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Program under Grant No. NSF OCE-1263349. We are indebted to the marine technicians, officers, and crew of the R/Vs Wecoma and Oceanus for the execution of the field studies. We also acknowledge contributions at sea from Margaret Sparrow, Katie Watkins-Brandt, Andrea Albright, Shelby LaBuhn, Cody Doolen, Michael Courtney, and Annie Thorp. Pore water iron and nutrient analyses were performed by Jessie Muratli and Joe Jennings in facilities at Oregon State University. Chip Hogue helped to gather and interpret sediment infauna data. Peter Berg and one anonymous reviewer provided helpful manuscript reviews. This paper is dedicated to Rick and Debbie Jahnke whose work and collegiality have shaped the field of benthic biogeochemistry.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, 97331, USA

    Clare E. Reimers, H. Tuba Özkan-Haller, Rhea D. Sanders, Kristina McCann-Grosvenor & Peter J. Chace

  2. Departments of Microbiology and Immunology and Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada

    Sean A. Crowe

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  1. Clare E. Reimers
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Correspondence to Clare E. Reimers.

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Reimers, C.E., Özkan-Haller, H.T., Sanders, R.D. et al. The Dynamics of Benthic Respiration at a Mid-Shelf Station Off Oregon. Aquat Geochem 22, 505–527 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10498-016-9303-5

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