| Session Details | |
| Section | BG - Biogeosciences |
| Session Title | Carbon and Nitrogen Transport and Burial: Past and Present |
| Main Convener | Prof. Selvaraj Kandasamy (Xiamen University, China) |
| Co-convener(s) | Dr. Zhonghui Liu (The University of Hong Kong, China) Dr. Shouye Yang (Tongji University, China) Prof. Elizabeth Canuel (Virginia Institute of Marine Science, United States) |
| Session Description | Large and small river systems around the world are highly significant in terms of nutrient and material fluxes between the continents and oceans because such exchanges have a global impact on marine biogeochemical processes. For instance, the processes that control the transport and transformation of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) along the river‐estuarine‐coastal-deep sea transect are crucial to our understanding of C sequestration and N transformation, as well as exchanges with the world ocean. Although rivers transport an estimated 20 Gt yr-1 of fluvial sediments to the coastal margin, with 0.43 Gt yr-1 of associated total organic carbon (TOC), the global burial flux within modern marine sediments in continental margins is quantified at only 0.1–0.2 Gt yr-1. Understanding the fate of so called “missing” terrestrial organic carbon in the coastal systems may therefore be crucial to understanding of global carbon cycle. For example, recent studies on small river systems connected to submarine canyons show instant export of C and N to the deeper parts of sea. Such transport may be responsible for more than a half of missing carbon fluxes in the coastal zone. Examination of organic carbon and nitrogen transport and burial at the global scale during present and past would help to understand the processes responsible for remineralization and burial in river, coastal and deep sea realms. This session will solicit presentation related to C and N transport and burial both in modern and paleo environments. We encourage submitting abstracts that related mainly to elemental (C, N) and their isotopes (δ13C, δ15N), including 14C, as well as biomarkers studies in river-estuarine-coastal-deep sea continuum to better understand global C and N cycles, given that both cycles are perturbed by anthropogenic additions and play an important role in Earth’s climate. |