Title
Modulation of the vertical particle transfer efficiency in the oxygen minimum zone off Peru
Date Issued
27 August 2018
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Bretagnon M.
Paulmier A.
Garçon V.
Dewitte B.
Illig S.
Leblond N.
Coppola L.
Panagiotopoulos C.
Oschlies A.
Martin Hernandez-Ayon J.
Maske H.
Vergara O.
Martinez P.
Carrasco E.
Grelet J.
Desprez-De-Gesincourt O.
Maes C.
Scouarnec L.
Publisher(s)
Copernicus GmbH
Abstract
The fate of the organic matter (OM) produced by marine life controls the major biogeochemical cycles of the Earth's system. The OM produced through photosynthesis is either preserved, exported towards sediments or degraded through remineralisation in the water column. The productive eastern boundary upwelling systems (EBUSs) associated with oxygen minimum zones (OMZs) would be expected to foster OM preservation due to low O2 conditions. But their intense and diverse microbial activity should enhance OM degradation. To investigate this contradiction, sediment traps were deployed near the oxycline and in the OMZ core on an instrumented moored line off Peru. Data provided high-temporal-resolution O2 series characterising two seasonal steady states at the upper trap: suboxic ([O2] < 25μmolkg-1) and hypoxic-oxic (15 < [O2] < 160μmolkgg-1) in austral summer and winter-spring, respectively. The OMZ vertical transfer efficiency of particulate organic carbon (POC) between traps (Teff) can be classified into three main ranges (high, intermediate, low). These different Teff ranges suggest that both predominant preservation (high Teff > 50%) and remineralisation (intermediate Teff 20<50% or low Teff < 6%) configurations can occur. An efficient OMZ vertical transfer (Teff > 50%) has been reported in summer and winter associated with extreme limitation in O2 concentrations or OM quantity for OM degradation. However, higher levels of O2 or OM, or less refractory OM, at the oxycline, even in a co-limitation context, can decrease the OMZ transfer efficiency to below 50%. This is especially true in summer during intraseasonal wind-driven oxygenation events. In late winter and early spring, high oxygenation conditions together with high fluxes of sinking particles trigger a shutdown of the OMZ transfer (Teff < 6%). Transfer efficiency of chemical elements composing the majority of the flux (nitrogen, phosphorus, silica, calcium carbonate) follows the same trend as for carbon, with the lowest transfer level being in late winter and early spring. Regarding particulate isotopes, vertical transfer of δ15N suggests a complex pattern of 15N impoverishment or enrichment according to Teffmodulation. This sensitivity of OM to O2 fluctuations and particle concentration calls for further investigation into OM and O2-driven remineralisation processes. This should include consideration of the intermittent behaviour of OMZ towards OM demonstrated in past studies and climate projections.
Start page
5093
End page
5111
Volume
15
Issue
16
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Ingeniería oceanográfica Biología marina, Biología de agua dulce, Limnología Oceanografía, Hidrología, Recursos hídricos
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85052786508
Source
Biogeosciences
ISSN of the container
17264170
Sponsor(s)
Acknowledgements. We would like to thank the crew of the German R/V Meteor for the deployment as part of the DFG-funded SFB754 fieldwork, the crew of the Peruvian R/V Olaya for the visit and the crew of the French R/V Atalante for the recovery of the fixed AMOP mooring. We would like to thank Stefan Sommer and Marcus Dengler for providing the METEOR wind dataset. We would also like to thank Miriam Soto, Anne Royer and Emmanuel De Saint Léger for general logistics and administrative support. We are grateful to Vincent Rossi for discussions regarding the processes affecting the sinking speed of the particles. We are finally also grateful to Christophe Lerebourg, from ACRI-ST, for his support during the course of this study. This work was supported by the AMOP (“Activity of research dedicated to the Minimum of Oxygen in the eastern Pacific”) project supported by IRD, CNRS/INSU, DT-INSU and LEGOS, and by a GIS COOC (UPMC, INSU/CNRS, CNES, ACRI-ST) PhD grant.
Sources of information: Directorio de Producción Científica Scopus