Marine nitrogen fixers mediate a low latitude pathway for atmospheric CO2 drawdown
Marine nitrogen fixers mediate a low latitude pathway for atmospheric CO2 drawdown
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DOI:
10.1038/s41467-019-12549-z
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发表时间:
2019-10-10
影响因子:
16.6
通讯作者:
Bindoff, Nathaniel L.
中科院分区:
文献类型:
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作者:
Buchanan, Pearse J.;Chase, Zanna;Bindoff, Nathaniel L.
Roughly a third (similar to 30 ppm) of the carbon dioxide (CO2) that entered the ocean during ice ages is attributed to biological mechanisms. A leading hypothesis for the biological drawdown of CO2 is iron (Fe) fertilisation of the high latitudes, but modelling efforts attribute at most 10 ppm to this mechanism, leaving similar to 20 ppm unexplained. We show that an Fe-induced stimulation of dinitrogen (N (2)) fixation can induce a low latitude drawdown of 7-16 ppm CO2. This mechanism involves a closer coupling between N-2 fixers and denitrifiers that alleviates widespread nitrate limitation. Consequently, phosphate utilisation and carbon export increase near upwelling zones, causing deoxygenation and deeper carbon injection. Furthermore, this low latitude mechanism reproduces the regional patterns of organic delta N-15 deposited in glacial sediments. The positive response of marine N-2 fixation to dusty ice age conditions, first proposed twenty years ago, therefore compliments high latitude changes to amplify CO2 drawdown.