The coupling of Phanerozoic continental weathering and marine phosphorus cycle
"Organic matter production and decomposition primarily modulate the atmospheric O2 and CO2 levels. The long term marine primary productivity is controlled by the terrestrial input of phosphorus (P), while the marine P cycle would also affect organic matter production. In the past 540 million years, the evolution of terrestrial system, e.g. colonization of continents by vascular land plants in late Paleozoic, would certainly affect terrestrial P input into the ocean, which in turn might have impacted the marine primary productivity and organic carbon burial. [...]"
Source: Scientific Reports
Authors: Ruimin Wang et al.
UK's lost sea meadows to be resurrected in climate fight
First seagrass restoration in Britain will capture carbon rapidly and offer habitat for lost marine life
“We think this whole bay was once carpeted with seagrass,” says Evie Furness, waving across the sparkling, sunlit waters of Dale Bay in Pembrokeshire, Wales. The underwater meadow is long gone though, a victim of past pollution and shipping. So from a boat half a mile from shore, Furness is feeding a long rope into the water, which carries a little hessian bag of seagrass seeds every metre. “We’ve passed the 800,000 seed mark now,” she says. [...]"
Source: The Guardian
Organic carbon burial during OAE2 driven by changes in the locus of organic matter sulfurization
"Ocean Anoxic Event 2 (OAE2) was a period of dramatic disruption to the global carbon cycle when massive amounts of organic matter (OM) were buried in marine sediments via complex and controversial mechanisms. Here we investigate the role of OM sulfurization, which makes OM less available for microbial respiration, in driving variable OM preservation in OAE2 sedimentary strata from Pont d’Issole (France). We find correlations between the concentration, S:C ratio, S-isotope composition, and sulfur speciation of OM suggesting that sulfurization facilitated changes in carbon burial at this site as the chemocline moved in and out of the sediments during deposition. [...]"
Source: Nature Communications
Authors: Morgan Reed Raven et al.