Mineralogical control on the fate of continentally derived organic matter in the ocean
Bound to rock
Organic matter binds to phyllosilicates, a process which affects both its transport and chemical stability. How does that affect the fate of terrestrial organic carbon that enters the ocean? Blattmann et al. show that organic carbon derived from soils is stripped from mineral surfaces upon discharge and dispersal into the ocean, whereas organic matter derived from ancient rocks is preserved there. Their results show that preservation of continentally derived organic matter in marine sediments is controlled largely by phyllosilicate mineralogy.
Science, this issue p. 742
Abstract
First-order relationships between organic matter content and mineral surface area have been widely reported and are implicated in stabilization and long-term preservation of organic matter. However, the nature and stability of organomineral interactions and their connection with mineralogical composition have remained uncertain. In this study, we find that continentally derived organic matter of pedogenic origin is stripped from smectite mineral surfaces upon discharge, dispersal, and sedimentation in distal ocean settings. In contrast, organic matter sourced from ancient rocks that is tightly associated with mica and chlorite endures in the marine realm. These results imply that the persistence of continentally derived organic matter in ocean sediments is controlled to a first order by phyllosilicate mineralogy.
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Supplementary Material
Summary
Materials and Methods
Supplementary Text
Figs. S1 to S7
Data S1 and S2
Resources
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Volume 366 | Issue 6466
8 November 2019
8 November 2019
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Received: 1 April 2019
Accepted: 24 September 2019
Published in print: 8 November 2019
Acknowledgments
We thank R. Keil for feedback and discussions and the work of three anonymous reviewers. We thank J. Li, X. Lyu, N. Cheong, K. Wen, S. Lin, P. Li, M. Wang, S. Zhao, S. Zhou, R. Joussain, K. Duan, X. Zhang, B. Lin, J. Zhao, P. Ma, and X. Yu for their support with sample recovery and preparation. Funding: This work was supported by ETH Research Grant ETH-41 14-1 and the National Science Foundation of China (91528304, 41576005, 41530964, and 41776047). Author contributions: T.M.B., Z.L., M.P., and T.I.E. designed the study. Z.L., Y. Zhang, Y. Zhao, and T.M.B. carried out the fieldwork. T.M.B. and N.H. carried out the measurements with support from D.B.M. and M.P. All authors contributed to discussion and writing. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests. Data and materials availability: All data are available in the supplementary materials and in (16).
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