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Organic Carbon Burial Rates in Muddy Temperate Shelf Sea Sediments
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Phillip E. Warwick,
James A. Strong ,
Kate Peel ,
Rowan Henthorn,
Jacqui Keenan,
Peter F. Duncan,
Jan G. Hiddink ,
Martin W. Skov ,
Richard Unsworth ,
Claire Evans
Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, Volume: 131, Issue: 3
Swansea University Authors:
HANNAH MUIR, Richard Unsworth
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DOI (Published version): 10.1029/2025jg009168
Abstract
Muddy continental shelf sediments act as important sinks for atmospheric CO2 by accumulating organic matter, a small fraction of which is buried and stored as organic carbon (OC) over long timescales. Quantifying long-term OC burial in shelf sediments is critical for understanding their role in clim...
| Published in: | Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences |
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| ISSN: | 2169-8953 2169-8961 |
| Published: |
American Geophysical Union (AGU)
2026
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| Online Access: |
Check full text
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| URI: | https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa71642 |
| Abstract: |
Muddy continental shelf sediments act as important sinks for atmospheric CO2 by accumulating organic matter, a small fraction of which is buried and stored as organic carbon (OC) over long timescales. Quantifying long-term OC burial in shelf sediments is critical for understanding their role in climate regulation; however, this remains difficult due to limited age-resolved data and the challenges of determining sediment accumulation rates and temporal changes in OC content. To address this, we quantified age-resolved OC storage over the past two centuries in the upper 50 cm of the Western Irish Sea Mud Belt (WISMB) by measuring depth-resolved OC content and sediment accumulation rates. The OC content (0.15%–1.62%), OC storage (1.30–15.15 gC cm−3), and sediment accumulation rates (0.26–0.37 cm yr−1) vary both spatially and temporally, with the highest OC accumulation and burial occurring in muddier, deeper-water sediments. Between 53% and 91% of the OC accumulated in the surface 2 cm over the past 8 years (17.09–39.47 gC m−2 yr−1), and 60%–68% of the OC accumulated in the upper 10 cm over the past 38 years (21.90–51.13 gC m−2 yr−1), remains buried for more than 100 years (14.03–33.50 gC m−2 yr−1). These rates are comparable to those reported for other muddy continental shelf regions, including mud patches, coastal fjords, and glacial troughs. |
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| Keywords: |
continental shelves; carbon burial |
| College: |
Faculty of Science and Engineering |
| Funders: |
Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture (DEFA), Isle of Man Government. |
| Issue: |
3 |