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Published (Version of record)CC BY V4.0, Open Access
Published (Version of record)CC BY V4.0, Open
Journal article
Efficient Burial of Labile Organic Carbon in Sediments of Oxygenated Icelandic Fjords
Estuaries and coasts, Vol.48(6), pp.1-20
01/11/2025
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Abstract
Fjords are hotspots of organic carbon (OC) burial, making them key components in the global carbon cycle. Recent research shows high marine OC burial even under oxic fjord water columns, broadening the scope of key drivers of OC burial therein. Here, we investigate the fate of marine OC in fjord sediments underlying oxic bottom waters in East Iceland. We estimate OC sources using stable isotopes, degradation using chemical biomarkers, and burial using 210Pb and 137Cs profiles. The average OC accumulation rates in East Iceland fjords were ~ 15 g OC m−2 year−1, lower than the fjord global average of 54 g OC m−2 year−1. Marine OC was the overwhelming source of OC to sediments and accounted for 91% of the OC buried in Iceland. The gradient in OC source from the head-to-mouth of the fjords was minimal, due to limited terrestrial vegetation and soil cover, low riverine inputs, and effective exchange with coastal waters. Lignin and total hydrolyzable amino acid biomarkers suggest negligible degradation of terrestrial OC and minor degradation of marine OC. Although a portion of marine OC was prone to remineralization in sediments, it represented only a small fraction of the total OC resulting in high OC transfer (burial) efficiencies of 68–96% within the top 25 cm of sediments. Overall, Icelandic fjords efficiently bury labile marine OC despite oxic water columns.
Details
- Title
- Efficient Burial of Labile Organic Carbon in Sediments of Oxygenated Icelandic Fjords
- Creators
- Emily G. Watts - University of FloridaKira Zautcke - University of FloridaIsaac Santos - University of GothenburgCraig Smeaton - University of St AndrewsWilma Ljungberg - University of GothenburgHenry L. S. Cheung - University of GothenburgStefano Bonaglia - University of GothenburgTobia Politi - University of GothenburgZhanfei Liu - Marine Science Institute, The University of Texas at AustinThomas S. Bianchi - University of New Hampshire
- Publication Details
- Estuaries and coasts, Vol.48(6), pp.1-20
- Publisher
- Springer New York LLC
- Grant note
- Swedish Research Council (VR 2020–00457)
- Identifiers
- 991013307012002368
- Copyright
- © The Author(s) 2025 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
- Academic Unit
- Faculty of Science and Engineering; National Marine Science Centre
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article