Articles | Volume 16, issue 12
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-16-2467-2019
© Author(s) 2019. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-16-2467-2019
© Author(s) 2019. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
19 Jun 2019
Research article |
| 19 Jun 2019
| 19 Jun 2019
Biomarker evidence for the occurrence of anaerobic ammonium oxidation in the eastern Mediterranean Sea during Quaternary and Pliocene sapropel formation
Department of Marine Microbiology and Biogeochemistry, NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, Utrecht University, Den Burg, the Netherlands
School of Natural and Environmental Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK
Helen M. Talbot
School of Natural and Environmental Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK
now at: Department of Archaeology (BioArCh), University of York, Heslington, York, UK
Marcel T. J. van der Meer
Department of Marine Microbiology and Biogeochemistry, NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, Utrecht University, Den Burg, the Netherlands
Ellen C. Hopmans
Department of Marine Microbiology and Biogeochemistry, NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, Utrecht University, Den Burg, the Netherlands
Ben Douglas
School of Natural and Environmental Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK
Jaap S. Sinninghe Damsté
Department of Marine Microbiology and Biogeochemistry, NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, Utrecht University, Den Burg, the Netherlands
Department of Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Faculty of Geosciences, University of Utrecht, Utrecht, the Netherlands
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Short summary
Sapropels are layers of sediment that regularly occur in the Mediterranean. They indicate periods when the Mediterranean Sea water contained no oxygen, a gas vital for most large organisms. This research investigated a key process in the nitrogen cycle (anaerobic ammonium oxidation, anammox), which removes nitrogen – an important nutrient to algae – from the water, during sapropel events. Using lipids to trace this process, we found that anammox was active during the no-oxygen times.
Sapropels are layers of sediment that regularly occur in the Mediterranean. They indicate...
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