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Fluxes of biogenic components from sediment trap deployment in circumpolar waters of the Drake Passage

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Abstract

Circumpolar surface waters dominate the circulation of the Southern Ocean and sustain one of the ocean's largest standing stocks of biomass thereby producing a significant output of biogenic components, mainly diatoms, to the bottom sediments. Generally transit of biogenic matter from the sea surface to the sea floor affects nutrient regeneration fuels benthic life and transfers signals to the sediment record1–5. Reliable quantification of the relationship between biological production, fractionation of skeletal and tissue components and bottom sediment accumulation depends on direct vertical flux measurements from sediment trap deployments6–9, which have proved to be most scientifically productive10–13. We now present data on vertical mass fluxes from the Southern Ocean and evidence for strong biogeochemical fractionation between organic carbon-, nitrogen- and phosphorus-containing compounds, siliceous and calcareous skeletal remains, and refractory aluminosilicates.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Geologisches Institut, Olshausenstrasse 40–60, 2300, Kiel, FRG

    Gerold Wefer & Peter J. Müller

  2. School of Oceanography, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, 97331, USA

    Erwin Suess & C. André Ungerer

  3. Institut für Meereskunde, Düsternbrooker Weg 20, 2300, Kiel, FRG

    Wolfgang Balzer, Gerd Liebezeit & Walter Zenk

Authors
  1. Gerold Wefer
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  2. Erwin Suess
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  3. Wolfgang Balzer
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  4. Gerd Liebezeit
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  5. Peter J. Müller
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  6. C. André Ungerer
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  7. Walter Zenk
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Wefer, G., Suess, E., Balzer, W. et al. Fluxes of biogenic components from sediment trap deployment in circumpolar waters of the Drake Passage. Nature 299, 145–147 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1038/299145a0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/299145a0

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