Abstract
A new method for determining organic carbon and total nitrogen in calcitic sediments is described and was employed in a study of Black Sea sediment samples from a transect of five proximal stations which crossed the depth where the water column oxycline impinged on the shelf. Bottom waters ranged from anoxic and sulfidic to fully oxic, with a suboxic zone between. The samples were collected with the aim of clarifying the relative importance of oxygen availability to organic matter preservation. Surface fluff layer organic carbon and total nitrogen levels both dropped steadily from anoxic to oxic stations, but carbon to nitrogen ratios increased due to preferential loss of a nitrogen-rich component. The source of organic matter appears constant across the transect, and both the bulk organic matter and diagenetic substrate are predominantly marine. Core profiles from oxic and anoxic stations displayed major differences in shape and in the depth extension of diagenesis. Distinct midcore transitions in carbon and nitrogen levels at two suboxic stations appear to be linked to changes from oxic to current suboxic bottom water conditions, arising from a shoaling water column oxycline. Profile differences result from degradation of a substrate which becomes progressively more nitrogen-depleted. Collectively, the results suggest that oxygen availability may play an independent role in organic matter preservation, but remain equivocal due to spatial heterogeneity of sediment accumulation rates and bioturbation.
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Cowie, G.L., Hedges, J.I. (1991). Organic carbon and nitrogen geochemistry of Black Sea surface sediments from stations spanning the oxic:anoxic boundary. In: İzdar, E., Murray, J.W. (eds) Black Sea Oceanography. NATO ASI Series, vol 351. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-2608-3_21
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-2608-3_21
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