The flux of black carbon to surface sediments on the New England continental shelf

Concentrations and Pb-210-derived fluxes of Black Carbon (BC) were deduced in recent ocean margin sediments off northeastern USA to investigate the role of this carbon form in the biogeochemical cycle of this element. BC concentrations in contemporary open shelf sediments ranged between 0.11 and 1.7 mg/gdw. Temporal trends of BC in cores, as well as the pattern of chemical markers of combustion sources, were consistent with anthropogenic fossil fuel combustion dominating the BC input to these sediments in recent times. BC fluxes of 1-2 g m(-2) yr(-1) suggest that the northeastern USA shelf ink is of the same magnitude as estimates of the BC production from fossil fuel and biomass burning in the upwind NE USA source region. Identification of about 10% of total organic carbon as BC has implications for sedimentary carbon preservation, as well as several other aspects of the global biogeochemical cycle of carbon. Copyright (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd.