Respiration in ocean margin sediments Johan Henrik Andersson

179 Pages·2014·3.67 MB·English

GEOLOGICA ULTRAIECTINA
Mededelingen van de Faculteit
Geowetenschappen Universiteit Utrecht
No. 283
Respiration in ocean margin
sediments
Johan Henrik Andersson
ISBN: 978-90-5744-148-6
NIOO Thesis 61
Respiration in ocean margin
sedim ents
Sedim entrespiratie in de
overgang van het continentale
plat naar de diepe oceaan
(met en samenvatting in het Nederlands)
Proefschrift
ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit
Utrecht op gezag van de rector magnificus, prof. dr. J.C.
Stoof, ingevolge het besluit van het college voor promoties in
het openbaar te verdedigen op maandag 12 november 2007
des middags te 2 uur
door
Johan Henrik Andersson
geboren op 15 december 1977 te Sölvesborg, Zweden
Promotoren: Prof. dr. C. H. R. Heip
Prof. dr. J. J. Middelburg
Co-promotor: Dr. K. Soetaert
This thesis was supported by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific
Research and the European Union (ORFOIS; EVK2-CT-2001-00100).
Contents
1 General introduction 1
1.1 Oxygen in the marine environment......................................... 1
1.2 Quantification of organic matter cycling in marine sediments 3
1.3 Experimental design and model identifiability....................... 8
1.4 Outline of this thesis.................................................................... 10
2 Respiration patterns in the deep ocean 13
2.1 Introduction..................................................................................... 14
2.2 M ethods............................................................................................ 15
2.2.1 Flux parameterizations................................................... 15
2.2.2 D ata..................................................................................... 16
2.3 Results and discussion................................................................. 16
2.3.1 Remineralization profile ................................................ 16
2.3.2 Global ocean respiration budget.................................. 20
2.4 Conclusions..................................................................................... 23
3 Short-term fate of phytodetritus in the Arabian Sea OMZ 25
3.1 Introduction..................................................................................... 26
3.2 Material and methods ................................................................. 27
3.2.1 Study s ite ........................................................................... 27
3.2.2 Experimental conditions................................................ 28
3.2.3 Analytical methods.......................................................... 30
3.2.4 Data treatm ent................................................................. 31
3.3 Results............................................................................................... 32
3.4 Discussion......................................................................................... 41
3.4.1 Experimental approach................................................... 41
3.4.2 Fate of phytodetritus....................................................... 45
3.4.3 Factors governing respiration ...................................... 46
V
Contents
4 Respiration of organic carbon in the Gulf of Finland 49
4.1 Introduction..................................................................................... 50
4.2 Materials and m ethods................................................................. 51
4.2.1 Study area........................................................................... 51
4.2.2 Sampling and analysis.................................................... 54
4.2.3 Benthic fluxes and carbonate dissolution.................. 55
4.3 Results............................................................................................... 56
4.3.1 Sediment profiles of organic carbon............................ 56
4.3.2 Pore-water profiles.......................................................... 56
4.3.3 Benthic respiration rates................................................ 58
4.3.4 Model description and results...................................... 66
4.4 Discussion........................................................................................ 71
4.4.1 Variations in overlying water masses ......................... 71
4.4.2 Respiration rates in the Gulf of Finland .................. 71
4.4.3 Carbonate dissolution .................................................... 72
4.4.4 Resuspension.................................................................... 75
4.5 Conclusions..................................................................................... 77
5 Identifiability and uncertainty of bio-irrigation rates 79
5.1 Introduction..................................................................................... 80
5.2 M ethods........................................................................................... 83
5.2.1 Bio-irrigation model ....................................................... 83
5.2.2 Sensitivity and identifiability.......................................... 85
5.2.3 Bayesian inference .......................................................... 87
5.2.4 Implementation................................................................. 89
5.3 Results and discussion................................................................ 91
5.3.1 Sensitivity functions ....................................................... 91
5.3.2 Sensitivity ranking........................................................... 97
5.3.3 Identifiability.................................................................... 99
5.3.4 Application to measured d a ta ..........................................101
5.3.5 Experimental considerations..............................................103
5.4 Conclusions.........................................................................................109
6 Evaluation of a life time based optode to measure oxygen 111
6.1 Introduction........................................................................................112
6.2 Materials and procedures..................................................................114
6.2.1 Measurement principle........................................................114
vi
Contents
6.2.2 Calibration performance....................................................116
6.2.3 Sensitivities...........................................................................118
6.2.4 Long-term stability..............................................................120
6.2.5 Sensitivity to biofouling ....................................................120
6.2.6 Other field applications.......................................................121
6.3 Assessment .........................................................................................122
6.4 Calibration performance..................................................................122
6.4.1 Cross sensitivity and pressure hysteresis .....................122
6.4.2 Long-term stability..............................................................125
6.4.3 Sensitivity to biofouling ....................................................125
6.4.4 Other field applications.......................................................128
6.5 Discussion, comments and recommendations............................130
Summary 135
Samenvatting 139
Acknowledgments 143
Curriculum Vitae 145
Bibliography 147
Contents
1 General introduction
Despite the fact that marine sediments might look very dull
and uninspiring, at a first glance no more than lifeless cold
brownish mud, this impression is far from the truth. Marine
sediment flourish with life, ranging from bacteria performing
a multitude of chemical reactions to a suite of benthic animals
such as mussels, worms and sea urchins. Moreover, marine
sediment are intimately linked to the presence of oxygen in the
atmosphere, provide the key to the past climate and represent
a removal site of bioavailable nitrogen and phosphorus.
1.1 Oxygen in the marine environment
Oxygen1 has been a favored electron acceptor ever since it first appeared
in the atmosphere in the beginning of the early Proterozoic era, 2.4 Gyr
ago as a byproduct of oxygenic photosynthesis (Catling and Claire, 2005).
However, photosynthetic production of oxygen is not enough to produce
an oxic atmosphere, since it will be consumed rapidly by respiration of
organic matter (OM) and oxidation of reduced substances, unless the OM
and reduced substances are out of contact with oxygen. Present estimates
of the global net primary production and heterotrophic respiration are
8.4 Pmol O2 yr_1 and 8.39 Pmol O2 yr_1, respectively (Lenton, 2003).
The slight difference (0.1 %) between these two numbers is the key to
the presence of oxygen in the atmosphere, due to the process of burial of
organic carbon and pyrite in continental margin sediments (Berner and
Raiswell, 1983; Middelburg and Meysman, 2007).
With such a powerful electron donor as oxygen available, life was able to
evolve from unicellular to multicellular organisms, i.e. metazoans (Knoll
and Carroll, 1999). This occurred around 0.6 Gyr ago, after oxygen had
1 Oxygen in this chapter actually refers to either 02(g) or Û2(aq)
1
1 General introduction
Table 1.1: Respiration pathways in ocean margin sediments
Pathway Chemical reaction
Aerobic respiration CH2O + O2 ^ CO2 + H2O
Dénitrification 5CH2O + 4NOy —>■ 4HCOy + 2N2 + CO2 + 3H2O
Manganese reduction CH2O + 2M11O2 + H2O —> HCOy + 2Mn2+ + 30H~
Iron reduction CH2O + 4Fe(OH)3 —> HCOy + 4Fe2+ + 70H~ + 3H2O
Sulfate reduction 2CH2O + SO2- —> 2HCOy + FpS
increased even further, near the end of the Proterozoic era (Canfield and
Teske, 1996). Along with the evolution of metazoans with muscular, uni­
directional guts came also faecal pellets, which transported OM through
the water column at a much faster rate than previously (Logan et ah,
1995). Thus, the biological pump became operational, the sea floor was
oxygenated and oxygen levels in the surface ocean increased even further,
allowing metazoans to diversify even more (Meysman et ah, 2006).
Despite this dramatic oxygenation, anoxic environments are still present
today in some oceans basins and in sediments. This excludes metazoans
from living deep down in the sediment. Various animals, such as poly­
chaete worms, bury themselves beneath the sediment surface, but have to
maintain contact with the overlying water to get oxygen. By pumping wa­
ter, they ventilate their burrows and can in this way breathe and sustain
themselves. Ventilation also causes a modification of the redox potential
in the immediate surroundings of the burrow, by oxygenating layers of sed­
iment where oxygen would never reach if transport were solely occurring
by molecular diffusion. Deeper down in the sediment than the burrows
reach, is the exclusive domain of unicellular organisms relying on ancient
pathways of respiration, such as denitrification, manganese reduction, iron
reduction and sulfate reduction (Table 1.1).
In some places in the ocean, where vertical mixing is limited, e.g. due
to stratification, and where oxygen consumption is high, due to high in­
put of OM, poor oxygen conditions develop in the bottom water and
drastically modify the benthic community. In areas where the overlying
water is permanently close to anoxia, but still some oxygen remaining,
such as the Oxygen Minimum Zones of the Pacific Ocean and the Arabian
Sea, adaptations to these conditions have arisen. These adaptations to
low oxygen concentrations are quite diverse and include thin flat bodies,
2