Total organic carbon content, organic carbon isotopic composition, lignin phenol compositions and aluminium to silicon weight ratio and mean grain size of the riverbed and marine surface sediments from the lowland Amazon basin and offshore area

Fuente: PANGAEA
Gespeichert in:
Bibliographische Detailangaben
Hauptverfasser: Sun, Shuwen, Schefuß, Enno, Mulitza, Stefan, Chiessi, Cristiano Mazur, Sawakuchi, André Oliveira, Zabel, Matthias, Baker, Paul A, Hefter, Jens, Mollenhauer, Gesine
Format: Dataset Open Access
Sprache:en
Veröffentlicht: PANGAEA 2017
Schlagworte:
Online-Zugang:
Tags: Tag hinzufügen
Keine Tags, Fügen Sie den ersten Tag hinzu!
_version_ 1867168570119553024
author Sun, Shuwen
Schefuß, Enno
Mulitza, Stefan
Chiessi, Cristiano Mazur
Sawakuchi, André Oliveira
Zabel, Matthias
Baker, Paul A
Hefter, Jens
Mollenhauer, Gesine
author_facet Sun, Shuwen
Schefuß, Enno
Mulitza, Stefan
Chiessi, Cristiano Mazur
Sawakuchi, André Oliveira
Zabel, Matthias
Baker, Paul A
Hefter, Jens
Mollenhauer, Gesine
collection Datos científicos de ciencias marinas y ambientales
contents The Amazon River transports large amounts of terrestrial organic carbon (OCterr) from the Andean and Amazon neotropical forests to the Atlantic Ocean. In order to compare the biogeochemical characteristics of OCterr in the fluvial sediments from the Amazon drainage basin and in the adjacent marine sediments, we analysed riverbed sediments from the Amazon mainstream and its main tributaries as well as marine surface sediments from the Amazon shelf and fan for total organic carbon (TOC) content, organic carbon isotopic composition (d13CTOC) and lignin phenol compositions. TOC and lignin content exhibit positive correlations with Al/Si ratios (indicative of the sediment grain size) implying that the grain size of sediment discharged by the Amazon River plays an important role in the preservation of TOC and leads to preferential preservation of lignin phenols in fine particles. Depleted d13CTOC values (-26.1 per mil to -29.9 per mil) in the main tributaries consistently correspond with the dominance of C3 vegetation. Ratios of syringyl to vanillyl (S/V) and cinnamyl to vanillyl (C/V) lignin phenols suggest that non-woody angiosperm tissues are the dominant source of lignin in the Amazon basin. Although the Amazon basin hosts a rich diversity of vascular plant types, distinct regional lignin compositions are not observed. In marine sediments, the distribution of d13CTOC and Lambda8 (sum of eight lignin phenols in organic carbon (OC), expressed as mg/100mg OC) values implies that OCterr discharged by the Amazon River is transported north-westward by the North Brazil Current and mostly deposited on the inner shelf. The lignin compositions in offshore sediments under the influence of the Amazon plume are consistent with the riverbed samples suggesting that processing of OCterr during offshore transport does not change the encoded source information. Therefore, the lignin compositions preserved in these offshore sediments can reliably reflect the vegetation in the Amazon River catchment. In sediments from the Amazon Fan, low lignin content, relatively depleted d13CTOC values and high (Ad/Al)V ratios indicating highly degraded lignin imply that a significant fraction of the deposited OCterr is derived from petrogenic (sourced from ancient rocks) sources.
format Dataset Open Access
id pangaea_https___doi_org_10_1594_PANGAEA_875162
institution PANGAEA
language en
publishDate 2017
publisher PANGAEA
record_format pangaea
spellingShingle Total organic carbon content, organic carbon isotopic composition, lignin phenol compositions and aluminium to silicon weight ratio and mean grain size of the riverbed and marine surface sediments from the lowland Amazon basin and offshore area
Sun, Shuwen
Schefuß, Enno
Mulitza, Stefan
Chiessi, Cristiano Mazur
Sawakuchi, André Oliveira
Zabel, Matthias
Baker, Paul A
Hefter, Jens
Mollenhauer, Gesine
Center for Marine Environmental Sciences; MARUM
The Amazon River transports large amounts of terrestrial organic carbon (OCterr) from the Andean and Amazon neotropical forests to the Atlantic Ocean. In order to compare the biogeochemical characteristics of OCterr in the fluvial sediments from the Amazon drainage basin and in the adjacent marine sediments, we analysed riverbed sediments from the Amazon mainstream and its main tributaries as well as marine surface sediments from the Amazon shelf and fan for total organic carbon (TOC) content, organic carbon isotopic composition (d13CTOC) and lignin phenol compositions. TOC and lignin content exhibit positive correlations with Al/Si ratios (indicative of the sediment grain size) implying that the grain size of sediment discharged by the Amazon River plays an important role in the preservation of TOC and leads to preferential preservation of lignin phenols in fine particles. Depleted d13CTOC values (-26.1 per mil to -29.9 per mil) in the main tributaries consistently correspond with the dominance of C3 vegetation. Ratios of syringyl to vanillyl (S/V) and cinnamyl to vanillyl (C/V) lignin phenols suggest that non-woody angiosperm tissues are the dominant source of lignin in the Amazon basin. Although the Amazon basin hosts a rich diversity of vascular plant types, distinct regional lignin compositions are not observed. In marine sediments, the distribution of d13CTOC and Lambda8 (sum of eight lignin phenols in organic carbon (OC), expressed as mg/100mg OC) values implies that OCterr discharged by the Amazon River is transported north-westward by the North Brazil Current and mostly deposited on the inner shelf. The lignin compositions in offshore sediments under the influence of the Amazon plume are consistent with the riverbed samples suggesting that processing of OCterr during offshore transport does not change the encoded source information. Therefore, the lignin compositions preserved in these offshore sediments can reliably reflect the vegetation in the Amazon River catchment. In sediments from the Amazon Fan, low lignin content, relatively depleted d13CTOC values and high (Ad/Al)V ratios indicating highly degraded lignin imply that a significant fraction of the deposited OCterr is derived from petrogenic (sourced from ancient rocks) sources.
title Total organic carbon content, organic carbon isotopic composition, lignin phenol compositions and aluminium to silicon weight ratio and mean grain size of the riverbed and marine surface sediments from the lowland Amazon basin and offshore area
topic Center for Marine Environmental Sciences; MARUM
url https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.875162