Accumulation of total organic carbon and calcium carbonate in the oxygen minimum zone of the notheastern Pacific of Mexico

作者：Sanchez Alberto^*; Gonzalez Yajimovich Oscar; Balart Eduardo; Estela Lopez Ortiz B; Aguiniga Garcia Sergio; Concepcion Ortiz Hernandez Ma

来源：Revista Mexicana de Ciencias Geologicas, 2013, 30(1): 222-232.

• biological pump
• total organic carbon
• calcium carbonate
• oxygen minimum zone
• northeast Mexican Pacific

The distribution and preservation of the total organic carbon (TOC) and CaCO3 in marine sediments is important because its connection to the carbon cycle and the regulation of atmospheric CO2. Studies of the sinking, accumulation and carbon burial are limited and therefore it is necessary to know, identify and quantify the content of this element in marginal sediments. In the present work was determined the distribution and accumulation of TOC and CaCO3 in surface sediments with different conditions of oxygenation of the water column in the southwestern margin of the Peninsula of Baja California. The highest accumulation of TOC occurred over a wide oxygen minimum zone (OMZ), TOC gradually decreases towards the coastline. The deposition and accumulation of CaCO3 was preferentially higher in the region where the OMZ is narrow and deep. The 2 to 8% of TOC generated in the photic zone is preserved and buried in the sediment, being consistent with values calculated by models of the ocean biological pump. The TOC and CaCO3 accumulation suggest that this region is important and key in the global carbon cycle of the ocean, and contributed significantly in regulating the climate changes in the past.

• 出版日期2013-4