“…Along with this high bottom water phosphate (~3 μmol/L) and low sedimentation rate can fuel the adsorption process (Ni et al, ). The clay‐sized sediment content in the area is high (up to 81% by weight; Biche et al, ) and the sedimentation rates in the CIB are extremely low (2–3 mm/kyr, rarely exceeding 1 cm/kyr; Banakar et al, ; Borole, ; Mascarenhas‐Pereira et al, ; Nath et al, ) typical of deep‐sea pelagic sediments. Thus, fine‐grained sediments with very low sedimentation rates in the CIB promote the adsorption of P, and this adsorbed fraction could be an important sink of P from the water column.…”