Transfer of organic carbon through marine water columns to sediments &ndash; insights from stable and radiocarbon isotopes of lipid biomarkers

Wakeham, S. G.; McNichol, A. P.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-11-6895-2014

Articles | Volume 11, issue 23

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-11-6895-2014

© Author(s) 2014. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-11-6895-2014

© Author(s) 2014. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Articles | Volume 11, issue 23

Research article

|

10 Dec 2014

Research article |

| 10 Dec 2014

Transfer of organic carbon through marine water columns to sediments – insights from stable and radiocarbon isotopes of lipid biomarkers

S. G. Wakeham and A. P. McNichol

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Final revised paper (published on 10 Dec 2014)
Preprint (discussion started on 24 Jun 2014)

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

AC: Author comment | RC: Referee comment | SC: Short comment | EC: Editor comment

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- Supplement

RC C4595: 'Transfer of lipids through marine water columns to sediments – Insights from stable and radiocarbon isotopes', Anonymous Referee #1, 25 Aug 2014
- AC C5357: 'Responses to reviewers comments', Stuart Wakeham, 23 Sep 2014
RC C4598: 'Comments on bg-2014-275', Anonymous Referee #2, 25 Aug 2014
- AC C5349: 'Responses to reviewers comments', Stuart Wakeham, 23 Sep 2014

Peer-review completion

AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision

AR by Stuart Wakeham on behalf of the Authors (12 Oct 2014) Author's response Manuscript

ED: Publish as is (14 Oct 2014) by Xinming Wang

Short summary

Compound-specific δ13C and Δ14C of lipids show that marine organic carbon (OC) in Black and Arabian Sea sediment trap material accounted for 66-100% of OC, with lower terrigenous (3-8%) and relict (4-16%) contributions. Marine OC in sediments was lower (66-90%), but terrigenous and relict OC were higher (3-17% and 7-13%). Sinking OC is overwhelmingly marine, but pre-aged terrigenous and relict OC are better preserved during delivery to the sediments.