Fluxes of biogenic components from sediment trap deployment in circumpolar waters of the Drake Passage

• Published in: Nature
• Main Authors: Wefer, Gerold, Suess, Erwin, Balzer, Wolfgang, Liebezeit, Gerd, Müller, Peter J., Ungerer, C. Andre, Zenk, Walter
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Nature Publishing Group 1982
• Subjects: Drake Passage; Southern Ocean
• Online Access: https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/32819/; https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/32819/1/Wefer_Nature.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1038/299145a0

Circumpolar surface waters dominate the circulation of the Southern Ocean and sustain one of the ocean's largest standing stocks of biomass thereby producing a significant output of biogenic components, mainly diatoms, to the bottom sediments. Generally transit of biogenic matter from the sea surface to the sea floor affects nutrient regeneration fuels benthic life and transfers signals to the sediment record1–5. Reliable quantification of the relationship between biological production, fractionation of skeletal and tissue components and bottom sediment accumulation depends on direct vertical flux measurements from sediment trap deployments6–9, which have proved to be most scientifically productive10–13. We now present data on vertical mass fluxes from the Southern Ocean and evidence for strong biogeochemical fractionation between organic carbon-, nitrogen- and phosphorus-containing compounds, siliceous and calcareous skeletal remains, and refractory aluminosilicates.