Constraints on Organic Carbon Inputs to Continental Margin Sediments: A Coupled Molecular Isotopic Approach

海洋沉积物，特别是海洋边缘的沉积物，作为陆源有机碳的长期储存库，其作用是低温地球化学和海洋地球化学中最复杂的问题之一。 几十年的研究对这些沉积物中陆源碳的丰度和分布产生了相互矛盾的估计。 在这个项目中，这个经典的问题将再次解决与最近开发的，国家的最先进的分析工具。 使用技术，以确定个别沉积有机化合物的14 C组成开发与以前的NSF资金，研究人员和他的同事在伍兹霍尔海洋研究所将调查的相对重要性的各种来源的陆源有机物质的沉积有机池存储在大陆边缘。 研究的主要目的有三：（1）确定维管植物和残余沉积岩有机碳对沉积物的贡献，（2）确定流域特征与陆源有机碳的数量、组成和年龄分布之间的关系，（3）确定陆源有机碳的丰度和丰度，（4）确定陆源有机碳的丰度和丰度。（3）确定河流影响的边缘沉积物有机碳贡献与颗粒特征之间的关系。 除了为目前对海洋边缘沉积物中碳储存的了解提供进一步信息外，预计新的信息应有助于目前限制全球有机碳预算的努力。

ABSTRACTOCE-9907129The role of marine sediments, particularly those on the ocean margins, as long-term repositories of terrigenous organic carbon is one of the most complex issues of low-temperature geochemistry and biogeochemistry. Several decades of research have produced conflicting estimates of the abundance and distribution of terrestrially-derived carbon in these sediments. In this project, this classic problem will be tackled again with recently developed, state-of-the-art analytical tools. Using techniques to determine the 14C composition of individual sedimentary organic compounds developed with previous NSF funding, the investigator and his colleagues at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution will investigate the relative importance of various sources of terrigenous organic matter to the sedimentary organic pool stored on continental margins. There are three major objectives: (1) to determine the contributions to the sedimentary pool of organic carbon derived from vascular plants and relict sedimentary rocks; (2) to determine the relationship between drainage basin characteristics and the quantity, composition, and age distributions of continentally-derived organic carbon; and (3) to determine the relationship between organic carbon contributions and particle characteristics for river-influenced margin sediments. In addition to further informing the current understanding of carbon storage in the sediments of the ocean margins, it is expected that the new information should assist in ongoing efforts to constrain global organic carbon budgets.