Nitrogen cycling in the deep sedimentary biosphere: nitrate isotopes in porewaters underlying the oligotrophic North Atlantic

Wankel, S. D.; Buchwald, C.; Ziebis, W.; Wenk, C. B.; Lehmann, M. F.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-7483-2015

Articles | Volume 12, issue 24

Biogeosciences, 12, 7483–7502, 2015

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-7483-2015

© Author(s) 2015. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Biogeosciences, 12, 7483–7502, 2015

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-7483-2015

© Author(s) 2015. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Articles | Volume 12, issue 24

Research article 21 Dec 2015

Research article | 21 Dec 2015

Nitrogen cycling in the deep sedimentary biosphere: nitrate isotopes in porewaters underlying the oligotrophic North Atlantic

S. D. Wankel et al.

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Final revised paper (published on 21 Dec 2015)
Preprint (discussion started on 21 Aug 2015)

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

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

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RC C6130: 'bg-2015-395', Anonymous Referee #1, 02 Oct 2015
- AC C7500: 'Reply to Reviewer #1', Scott Wankel, 09 Nov 2015
RC C6434: 'Review of Wankel et al.', Anonymous Referee #2, 13 Oct 2015
- AC C7501: 'Reply to Reviewer #2', Scott Wankel, 09 Nov 2015

Peer-review completion

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

ED: Publish subject to minor revisions (Editor review) (10 Nov 2015) by Steven Bouillon

AR by Scott Wankel on behalf of the Authors (11 Nov 2015) Author's response Manuscript

ED: Publish subject to technical corrections (26 Nov 2015) by Steven Bouillon

Short summary

In the sediments underlying the global oligotrophic ocean, low levels of microbial activity persist, despite low input of organic matter from surface ocean productivity. Using measured nitrogen and oxygen isotopes of porewater nitrate we estimate the magnitude and extent of microbial nitrogen cycling. We find evidence for the overlap of both denitrification as well as autotrophic pathways such as nitrification and nitrogen fixation, pointing to a relatively large role for subsurface autotrophy.