Tectonically-triggered sediment and carbon export to the Hadal zone

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 9; no. 1; p. 121
• Main Authors: Bao, Rui, Strasser, Michael, McNichol, Ann P., Haghipour, Negar, McIntyre, Cameron, Wefer, Gerold, Eglinton, Timothy I.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 09.01.2018; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 140/58; 704/2151/3930; 704/47/4113; Carbon; Carbon cycle; Earthquakes; Gravitation; Gravity; Humanities and Social Sciences; multidisciplinary; Organic carbon; Oxidation; Pyrolysis; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Sedimentation; Sediments; Seismic activity; Thermal decomposition
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-02504-1

Sediments in deep ocean trenches may contain crucial information on past earthquake history and constitute important sites of carbon burial. Here we present 14 C data on bulk organic carbon (OC) and its thermal decomposition fractions produced by ramped pyrolysis/oxidation for a core retrieved from the >7.5 km-deep Japan Trench. High-resolution 14 C measurements, coupled with distinctive thermogram characteristics of OC, reveal hemipelagic sedimentation interrupted by episodic deposition of pre-aged OC in the trench. Low δ 13 C values and diverse 14 C ages of thermal fractions imply that the latter material originates from the adjacent margin, and the co-occurrence of pre-aged OC with intervals corresponding to known earthquake events implies tectonically triggered, gravity-flow-driven supply. We show that 14 C ages of thermal fractions can yield valuable chronological constraints on sedimentary sequences. Our findings shed new light on links between tectonically driven sedimentological processes and marine carbon cycling, with implications for carbon dynamics in hadal environments. Within sediments in deep ocean trenches an earthquake record may be observed. Here, the authors present 14 C data on bulk organic carbon (OC) and thermal decomposition from a sediment core in the Japan Trench and match OC values with known earthquake events.