Particulate organic carbon (POC) in surface sediments of the Baltic Sea

Leipe, Thomas; Tauber, Franz; Vallius, Henry; Virtasalo, Joonas J.; Uścinowicz, Szymon; Kowalski, Nicole; Hille, Sven; Lindgren, Susanna; Myllyvirta, Tero

doi:10.1007/s00367-010-0223-x

Cited by 123 publications

(83 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…1). The Baltic Sea sediments are typically mineral sediments consisting of glaciofluvial deposits and only a small fraction of the sediment carbon content consists of carbonates (Leipe et al, 2011). The inorganic carbon content in our samples was low and contributed 0.5-5 % of total carbon content (n = 10 sites per region), and therefore carbonates were not removed from the sediment samples prior to the analysis to avoid analytical errors in low organic samples (Schlacher and Connolly, 2014).…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Blue carbon stocks in Baltic Sea eelgrass (<i>Zostera marina</i>) meadows

et al. 2016

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Abstract. Although seagrasses cover only a minor fraction of the ocean seafloor, their carbon sink capacity accounts for nearly one-fifth of the total oceanic carbon burial and thus play a critical structural and functional role in many coastal ecosystems. We sampled 10 eelgrass (Zostera marina) meadows in Finland and 10 in Denmark to explore seagrass carbon stocks (C org stock) and carbon accumulation rates (C org accumulation) in the Baltic Sea area. The study sites represent a gradient from sheltered to exposed locations in both regions to reflect expected minimum and maximum stocks and accumulation. The C org stock integrated over the top 25 cm of the sediment averaged 627 g C m −2 in Finland, while in Denmark the average C org stock was over 6 times higher (4324 g C m −2 ). A conservative estimate of the total organic carbon pool in the regions ranged between 6.98 and 44.9 t C ha −1 . Our results suggest that the Finnish eelgrass meadows are minor carbon sinks compared to the Danish meadows, and that majority of the C org produced in the Finnish meadows is exported. Our analysis further showed that > 40 % of the variation in the C org stocks was explained by sediment characteristics, i.e. dry density, porosity and silt content. In addition, our analysis show that the root : shoot ratio of Z. marina explained > 12 % and the contribution of Z. marina detritus to the sediment surface C org pool explained > 10 % of the variation in the C org stocks. The mean monetary value for the present carbon storage and carbon sink capacity of eelgrass meadows in Finland and Denmark, were 281 and 1809 EUR ha −1 , respectively. For a more comprehensive picture of seagrass carbon storage capacity, we conclude that future blue carbon studies should, in a more integrative way, investigate the interactions between sediment biogeochemistry, seascape structure, plant species architecture and the hydrodynamic regime.

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Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Blue carbon stocks in Baltic Sea eelgrass (<i>Zostera marina</i>) meadows

et al. 2016

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“…A set of seven typical 137 Cs distribution curves with the year 1986 indicated is presented in figure 2. Leipe et al (2011) estimated the muddy sediments of the Gulf of Finland to contain 0.7 percent of inorganic carbon on average. As virtually all carbon in the Gulf of Finland is of organic origin no specific analysis for organic carbon was performed.…”

Section: Thementioning

confidence: 99%

Sediment and carbon accumulation rates off the southern coast of Finland

Vallius¹

2015

Baltica

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Sediment and carbon accumulation rates off the southern coast of Finland Henry ValliusValliusAbstract The southern coast of Finland encompasses about one third of the coasts of the Gulf of Finland. It is a mosaic of hundreds if not thousands of islands, peninsulas and bays, which also are reflected in the seabed of the coast. The sea floor is composed of a patchy and fragmented mosaic of mainly quite small basins separated from each other by thresholds of islands, peninsulas or submarine ridges. This affects transport and near bottom currents such that deposition of suspended particles is restricted to certain areas only. Linear sediment accumulation rates along the southern coast of Finland were studied from 28 cores of a sampling campaign in 2000-2004 through gamma spectrometry of 137 Cs. Sediment accumulation in this environment with such diverse character was found very patchy and net sedimentation rates varying from less than 0.5 cm/a to values of nearly 3 cm/a as well as mass accumulation rates from 0.5 kg/m 2 /a to 8.8 kg/m 2 /a were found. The sediment accumulation rates were observed to be higher in shallower water in coastal sheltered or semi-sheltered bays. Total carbon concentrations varied from 1.3 % to 12.6 % and carbon accumulation rates from 20 g/m 2 /a to 355 g/m 2 /a such that the highest carbon concentrations were usually found in deeper water with some distance from the coast, while the highest carbon accumulation rates were found in the coastal shallow basins where sediment accumulation was found strongest.

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“…A large dataset of C org [%] measurements of surface sediments (n = 551) was available for this approach (Leipe et al, 2010). The C org data were arranged into 6 groups (C org : 0-1%, 1-2%, 2-3%, 3-4%, 4-5%, >5%) and a map showing the C org content was created (Fig.…”

Section: Calculating the Annual N-lossmentioning

confidence: 99%

Denitrification in sediments as a major nitrogen sink in the Baltic Sea: an extrapolation using sediment characteristics

et al. 2010

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Abstract.Rates of denitrification in sediments were measured with the isotope pairing technique at different sites in the southern and central Baltic Sea. The rates varied between 0.5 µmol N m −2 h −1 in sands and 28.7 µmol N m −2 h −1 in muddy sediments and showed a good correlation to the organic carbon contents of the surface sediments. N-removal rates via sedimentary denitrification were estimated for the entire Baltic Sea calculating sediment specific denitrification rates and interpolating them to the whole Baltic Sea area. Another approach was carried out by using the relationship between the organic carbon content and the rate of denitrification. The N-removal by denitrification in sediments varied between 426-652 kt N a −1 , which is around 48-73% of the external N inputs delivered via rivers, coastal point sources, and atmospheric deposition. Moreover, an expansion of the anoxic bottom areas was considered under the assumption of a rising oxycline from 100 to 80 m water depth. This leads to an increase of the area with anoxic conditions and an overall decrease in sedimentary denitrification by 14%. Overall, we show here that this type of data extrapolation is a powerful tool to estimate the nitrogen losses for a whole coastal sea and may be applicable to other coastal regions and enclosed seas.

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Particulate organic carbon (POC) in surface sediments of the Baltic Sea

Cited by 123 publications

References 38 publications

Blue carbon stocks in Baltic Sea eelgrass (<i>Zostera marina</i>) meadows

Blue carbon stocks in Baltic Sea eelgrass (<i>Zostera marina</i>) meadows

Sediment and carbon accumulation rates off the southern coast of Finland

Denitrification in sediments as a major nitrogen sink in the Baltic Sea: an extrapolation using sediment characteristics

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Particulate organic carbon (POC) in surface sediments of the Baltic Sea

Cited by 123 publications

References 38 publications

Blue carbon stocks in Baltic Sea eelgrass (&lt;i&gt;Zostera marina&lt;/i&gt;) meadows

Blue carbon stocks in Baltic Sea eelgrass (&lt;i&gt;Zostera marina&lt;/i&gt;) meadows

Sediment and carbon accumulation rates off the southern coast of Finland

Denitrification in sediments as a major nitrogen sink in the Baltic Sea: an extrapolation using sediment characteristics

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Blue carbon stocks in Baltic Sea eelgrass (<i>Zostera marina</i>) meadows

Blue carbon stocks in Baltic Sea eelgrass (<i>Zostera marina</i>) meadows