Organic carbon burial rates across the Arctic Ocean from the 1994 Arctic Ocean Section expedition

Estimates of organic carbon burial rates were obtained from the Canada/US 1994 Arctic Ocean Section expedition using a relationship between dissolved ammonium gradients in sediment pore water and organic carbon burial rates. Data from 9 locations more than 200 km west of the Lomonosov Ridge indicate that organic carbon burial rates average 0.01 g C m(-2) year(-1). At 4 stations within 100 km of the Lomonosov Ridge, carbon burial rate increases 9-fold, to an average of 0.09 g C m(-2) year(-1). Enhanced carbon burial rates and organic carbon concentrations at the Lomonosov Ridge and in the Eurasian Basin appear to be related to higher terrestrial carbon supply to the Eurasian Basin and to the role that the Lomonosov Ridge plays in the circulation and mixing of the different water masses from the two major basins on either side of the Lomonosov Ridge. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.