Organic carbon accumulation in the South Atlantik Ocean: Sedimentary processes and glacial/interglacial budgets.

Abstract

The accumulation of organic matter in marine sediments must be considered in order to estimate the magnitude of sources and sinks in the oceanic carbon cycle and of fluxes between the active reservoirs over timescales of 10*4 to l0*5 years. A significant change of global accumulation of organic matter (Corg) in marine sediments can therefore be responsible for changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration over glacial-interglacial climate transitions. Past studies regarding this mechanism have focussed on high latitude oceans, particularly the Southern Ocean. There, no significant increases in Corg accumulation during the glacial could be observed. Little is known, in contrast, about basin-wide glacial to interglacial changes in Corg accumulation in the tropical and subtropical oceans.