Definition
Bioturbation is the mixing and displacement of particles in marine and freshwater sediments caused by benthic fauna mainly during foraging and the construction of burrows. As a result particulate proxies and microfossils such as tests of foraminifera deposited at the seafloor may not be found in the time slice corresponding to its deposition, and the interpretation of the geological record can be hampered. Other effects of animal activity, such as biodeposition and bioresuspension, but also fluid transport will not be considered in this section although they are essential for biogeochemical cycles and are used as subprocesses of bioturbation in recent biological literature (cf. Kristensen et al. 2012).
Measurement and modeling
In geological sciences, mainly natural radioactive tracers like210Pb,234Th, or7Be but also chlorophyll a or stained sand grains have been used for a quantitative description. A basic equation for sediment mixing was provided by Berner (1980).
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Bibliography
Berner, R. A., 1980. Early Diagenesis: A Mathematical Approach. Princton: Princton University Press.
Boudreau, B. P., 1994. Is burial velocity a master parameter for bioturbation? Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 58, 1243–1249.
Francois, F., Gerino, M., Stora, G., Durbec, J.-P., and Poggiale, J.-C., 2002. Functional approach to sediment reworking by gallery-forming macrobenthic organisms: modeling and application with the polychaete Nereis diversicolor. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 229, 127–136.
Kristensen, E., Penha-Lopes, G., Delefosse, M., Valdemarsen, T., Quintana, C. O., and Banta, G. T., 2012. What is bioturbation? The need for a precise definition for fauna in aquatic sciences. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 446, 285–302.
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Graf, G. (2016). Bioturbation. In: Harff, J., Meschede, M., Petersen, S., Thiede, J. (eds) Encyclopedia of Marine Geosciences. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6238-1_132
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6238-1_132
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