Surficial bioturbation and rapid benthic remineralization in the Cape Hatteras shelf/slope region. Final report

• Main Authors: Aller, Robert C., Aller, Josephine Y., Lee, C., Cochran, J. Kirk
• Other Authors: United States. Department of Energy. Office of Energy Research.
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: Research Foundation of State University of New York, Albany, NY (United States) 1999
• Subjects: Atlantic Ocean; Chesapeake Bay; Mineralization; Sediments; 58 Geosciences; Carbon Cycle; Mid-Atlantic Bight; Storage; Continental Margin; Carbon; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.2172/761049; https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc722986/

This is a final report for the DOE of grant DE-FG02-92ER61464 ''Surficial bioturbation and rapid benthic remineralization in the Cape Hatteras shelf slope region''. Over the past 6 years we have participated in a multidisciplinary field study called the Ocean margins Program (OMP) to examine the importance of continental margins in the global carbon cycle. Specifically, we have focused on the southern portion of the Mid-Atlantic Bight between Cape Hatteras and Chesapeake Bay where a large flux of freshwater and organic carbon enters the North Atlantic Ocean. Additionally, during the first stage of this project, we developed the use of CM-a distributions in sediments as a quantitative indicator of benthic C flux and remineralization rates. The primary objective of our research group has been to understand mechanisms and quantify biogeochemical processes in the seabed that affect cycling, flux, and storage of carbon on the ocean margin of the Mid-Atlantic Bight.