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Turbidity currents can dictate organic carbon fluxes across river-fed fjords: example from Bute Inlet (BC, Canada)

Turbidity currents can dictate organic carbon fluxes across river-fed fjords: example from Bute Inlet (BC, Canada)
Turbidity currents can dictate organic carbon fluxes across river-fed fjords: example from Bute Inlet (BC, Canada)
The delivery and burial of terrestrial particulate organic carbon (OC) in marine sediments is important to quantify, because this OC is a food resource for benthic communities, and if buried it may lower the concentrations of atmospheric CO2 over geologic timescales. Analysis of sediment cores has previously shown that fjords are hotspots for OC burial. Fjords can contain complex networks of submarine channels formed by seafloor sediment flows, called turbidity currents. However, the burial efficiency and distribution of OC by turbidity currents in river-fed fjords had not been investigated previously. Here, we determine OC distribution and burial efficiency across a turbidity current system within Bute Inlet, a fjord in western Canada. We show that 62% ± 10% of the OC supplied by the two river sources is buried across the fjord surficial (30–200 cm) sediment. The sandy subenvironments (channel and lobe) contain 63% ± 14% of the annual terrestrial OC burial in the fjord. In contrast, the muddy subenvironments (overbank and distal basin) contain the remaining 37% ± 14%. OC in the channel, lobe, and overbank exclusively comprises terrestrial OC sourced from rivers. When normalized by the fjord’s surface area, at least 3 times more terrestrial OC is buried in Bute Inlet, compared to the muddy parts of other fjords previously studied. Although the long-term (>100 years) preservation of this OC is still to be fully understood, turbidity currents in fjords appear to be efficient at storing OC supplied by rivers in their near-surface deposits.
carbon burial, fjords, organic carbon, rivers, sediment, submarine channel
2169-8953
Hage, Sophie
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Galy, Valier
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Cartigny, M.J.B.
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Heerema, C
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Heijnen, Maarten
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Acikalin, Sanem
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Clare, Michael
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Giesbrecht, I
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Hendry, A
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Hilton, R.G.
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Hubbard, Stephen
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Hunt, J.
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Lintern, Gwyn
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Mcghee, C.A.
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Parsons, D.R.
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Pope, Ed
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Stacey, Cooper
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Sumner, Esther
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Tank, S
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Talling, Peter J
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Hage, Sophie
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Galy, Valier
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Cartigny, M.J.B.
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Heerema, C
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Heijnen, Maarten
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Acikalin, Sanem
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Clare, Michael
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Giesbrecht, I
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Hendry, A
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Hilton, R.G.
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Hubbard, Stephen
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Hunt, J.
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Lintern, Gwyn
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Mcghee, C.A.
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Parsons, D.R.
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Pope, Ed
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Stacey, Cooper
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Sumner, Esther
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Tank, S
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Talling, Peter J
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Hage, Sophie, Galy, Valier, Cartigny, M.J.B., Heerema, C, Heijnen, Maarten, Acikalin, Sanem, Clare, Michael, Giesbrecht, I, Hendry, A, Hilton, R.G., Hubbard, Stephen, Hunt, J., Lintern, Gwyn, Mcghee, C.A., Parsons, D.R., Pope, Ed, Stacey, Cooper, Sumner, Esther, Tank, S and Talling, Peter J (2022) Turbidity currents can dictate organic carbon fluxes across river-fed fjords: example from Bute Inlet (BC, Canada). Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, 127 (6), [e2022JG006824]. (doi:10.1029/2022JG006824).

Record type: Article

Abstract

The delivery and burial of terrestrial particulate organic carbon (OC) in marine sediments is important to quantify, because this OC is a food resource for benthic communities, and if buried it may lower the concentrations of atmospheric CO2 over geologic timescales. Analysis of sediment cores has previously shown that fjords are hotspots for OC burial. Fjords can contain complex networks of submarine channels formed by seafloor sediment flows, called turbidity currents. However, the burial efficiency and distribution of OC by turbidity currents in river-fed fjords had not been investigated previously. Here, we determine OC distribution and burial efficiency across a turbidity current system within Bute Inlet, a fjord in western Canada. We show that 62% ± 10% of the OC supplied by the two river sources is buried across the fjord surficial (30–200 cm) sediment. The sandy subenvironments (channel and lobe) contain 63% ± 14% of the annual terrestrial OC burial in the fjord. In contrast, the muddy subenvironments (overbank and distal basin) contain the remaining 37% ± 14%. OC in the channel, lobe, and overbank exclusively comprises terrestrial OC sourced from rivers. When normalized by the fjord’s surface area, at least 3 times more terrestrial OC is buried in Bute Inlet, compared to the muddy parts of other fjords previously studied. Although the long-term (>100 years) preservation of this OC is still to be fully understood, turbidity currents in fjords appear to be efficient at storing OC supplied by rivers in their near-surface deposits.

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Accepted/In Press date: 9 May 2022
e-pub ahead of print date: 25 May 2022
Published date: June 2022
Additional Information: Funding Information: We acknowledge that this work took place in the unceded traditional territory of the Homalco First Nation. We thank the captain and crew of the CCGS Vector (Canada) for sample collection. S.H. acknowledges funding by the IAS postgraduate grant scheme, a Research Development funds offered by Durham University, and the NOCS/WHOI exchange program. S.H. has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement no. 899546. The field campaign and geochemical analyses were supported by Natural Environment Research Council grants NE/M007138/1, NE/W30601/1, NE/N012798/1, NE/K011480/1 and NE/M017540/1. M.J.B.C. was funded by a Royal Society Research Fellowship (DHF\R1\180166). M.A.C. was supported by the U.K. National Capability NERC CLASS program (NE/R015953/1) and NERC grants (NE/P009190/1 and NE/P005780/1). C.J.H. and M.S.H. were funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement no. 721403 - ITN SLATE. E.L.P. was supported by a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship (ECF-2018-267). Funding Information: We acknowledge that this work took place in the unceded traditional territory of the Homalco First Nation. We thank the captain and crew of the CCGS Vector (Canada) for sample collection. S.H. acknowledges funding by the IAS postgraduate grant scheme, a Research Development funds offered by Durham University, and the NOCS/WHOI exchange program. S.H. has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Sklodowska‐Curie grant agreement no. 899546. The field campaign and geochemical analyses were supported by Natural Environment Research Council grants NE/M007138/1, NE/W30601/1, NE/N012798/1, NE/K011480/1 and NE/M017540/1. M.J.B.C. was funded by a Royal Society Research Fellowship (DHF\R1\180166). M.A.C. was supported by the U.K. National Capability NERC CLASS program (NE/R015953/1) and NERC grants (NE/P009190/1 and NE/P005780/1). C.J.H. and M.S.H. were funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Skłodowska‐Curie grant agreement no. 721403 ‐ ITN SLATE. E.L.P. was supported by a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship (ECF‐2018‐267). Publisher Copyright: © 2022. The Authors.
Keywords: carbon burial, fjords, organic carbon, rivers, sediment, submarine channel

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Local EPrints ID: 457614
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/457614
ISSN: 2169-8953
PURE UUID: 8e008617-38d2-48ef-8a65-7b3b5d1e2cde

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Date deposited: 14 Jun 2022 16:39
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 17:40

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Contributors

Author: Sophie Hage
Author: Valier Galy
Author: M.J.B. Cartigny
Author: C Heerema
Author: Maarten Heijnen
Author: Sanem Acikalin
Author: Michael Clare
Author: I Giesbrecht
Author: A Hendry
Author: R.G. Hilton
Author: Stephen Hubbard
Author: J. Hunt
Author: Gwyn Lintern
Author: C.A. Mcghee
Author: D.R. Parsons
Author: Ed Pope
Author: Cooper Stacey
Author: Esther Sumner
Author: S Tank
Author: Peter J Talling

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