Éditeur(s) : Elsevier Science Bv
Résumé : Mechanisms controlling the transfer and retention of silicon (Si) along continental margins are poorly understood, but play a major role in the functioning of coastal ecosystems and the oceanic biological pump of carbon. Deep-sea fans are well recognized as carbon sink spots, but we lack knowledge about the importance of the fans in the global Si cycle. Here, we provide a first estimate of the role played by the Congo deep-sea fan, one of the biggest in the world, in the Si cycle. Sediment cores sampled in the deep-sea fan were analyzed to build a Si mass balance. An exceptionally high accumulation rate of amorphous silica aSiO(2) (2.29 +/- 0.58 mol Si m(-2) y(-1)) was found, due to a high sedimentation rate and the presence of aluminum in the sediments. Although favored by bioirrigation, recycling fluxes remained low (0.3 mol Si m(-2) y(-1)) and reconstructed input fluxes could only be explained by lateral inputs coming from the canyon. Preliminary calculations show that the rapid transport of aSiO(2) through the canyon and the excellent preservation efficiency in the sediments imply that 50% of aSiO(2) river inputs from the Congo River accumulate annually in the deep-sea fan. Si:C ratios in deep-sea fan sediments were very low (0.2) and only three times as high as those measured in the river itself, which suggests that material from the river and the continental shelf was delivered directly through the canyon, with very little time for Si and C cycle decoupling to take place.
Journal Of Marine Systems (0924-7963) (Elsevier Science Bv), 2015-01 , Vol. 141 , P. 71-79

Droits : 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00251/36242/35797.pdf
DOI:10.1016/j.jmarsys.2014.07.010
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00251/36242/

Éditeur(s) : Amer Soc Limnology Oceanography
Résumé : A new benthic station equipped with oxygen microelectrodes and environmental sensors was developed by Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de L’Environnement (LSCE) and Division Technique of the Institut National des Sciences de L’Univers (DT-INSU) to perform in situ time series monitoring of sediment oxygen demand, linked to the mineralization of organic matter. The time series typically cover periods of 2-3 months, with a base frequency of 1 set of oxygen profiles per day. The profiling head assessed the lateral heterogeneity of the sediment oxygen demand at the beginning of the time series over a 0.8-m long rectangle to discriminate spatial and temporal variability. A continuous recalibration is performed using a moored oxygen optode anchored to the benthic station together with a set of environmental sensors. These sensors (turbidity, temperature, salinity, and oxygen) can trigger a high-frequency profiling mode to investigate the fate of particulate organic matter delivered during floods, resuspension, and deposition events. Deployments of the benthic station were performed in the Rhone River subaqueous delta (Mediterranean Sea). We show that “stable” periods (when neither floods nor storms occur) were characterized by a stable oxygen demand. In the case of resuspension events, an increase of the sediment oxygen demand by a factor of 2-3 with a relaxation time of 1 day was observed, indicating that the new benthic station can adequately capture the impact of resuspension events on the oxygen demand in deltaic sediments.
Limnology And Oceanography-methods (1541-5856) (Amer Soc Limnology Oceanography), 2014-11 , Vol. 12 , P. 729-741

Droits : 2014, by the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography, Inc.
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00230/34126/32597.pdf
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00230/34126/36349.pdf
DOI:10.4319/lom.2014.12.729
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00230/34126/