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  • 2010-2014  (5)
  • 1
    Publication Date: 2019-09-23
    Description: Over much of the ocean’s surface, productivity and growth are limited by a scarcity of bioavailable nitrogen. Sedimentary δ15N records spanning the last deglaciation suggest marked shifts in the nitrogen cycle during this time, but the quantification of these changes has been hindered by the complexity of nitrogen isotope cycling. Here we present a database of δ15N in sediments throughout the world’s oceans, including 2,329 modern seafloor samples, and 76 timeseries spanning the past 30,000 years. We show that the δ15N values of modern seafloor sediments are consistent with values predicted by our knowledge of nitrogen cycling in the water column. Despite many local deglacial changes, the globally averaged δ15N values of sinking organic matter were similar during the Last Glacial Maximum and Early Holocene. Considering the global isotopic mass balance, we explain these observations with the following deglacial history of nitrogen inventory processes. During the Last Glacial Maximum, the nitrogen cycle was near steady state. During the deglaciation, denitrification in the pelagic water column accelerated. The flooding of continental shelves subsequently increased denitrification at the seafloor, and denitrification reached near steady-state conditions again in the Early Holocene. We use a recent parameterization of seafloor denitrification to estimate a 30–120% increase in benthic denitrification between 15,000 and 8,000 years ago. Based on the similarity of globally averaged δ15N values during the Last Glacial Maximum and Early Holocene, we infer that pelagic denitrification must have increased by a similar amount between the two steady states.
    Type: Article , PeerReviewed
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  • 2
    Publication Date: 2018-03-15
    Description: We present a new nitrogen isotope model incorporated into the three-dimensional ocean component of a global Earth system climate model designed for millennial timescale simulations. The model includes prognostic tracers for the two stable nitrogen isotopes, 14N and 15N, in the nitrate (NO3−), phytoplankton, zooplankton, and detritus variables of the marine ecosystem model. The isotope effects of algal NO3− uptake, nitrogen fixation, water column denitrification, and zooplankton excretion are considered as well as the removal of NO3− by sedimentary denitrification. A global database of δ15NO3− observations is compiled from previous studies and compared to the model results on a regional basis where sufficient observations exist. The model is able to qualitatively and quantitatively reproduce many of the observed patterns such as high subsurface values in water column denitrification zones and the meridional and vertical gradients in the Southern Ocean. The observed pronounced subsurface minimum in the Atlantic is underestimated by the model presumably owing to too little simulated nitrogen fixation there. Sensitivity experiments reveal that algal NO3− uptake, nitrogen fixation, and water column denitrification have the strongest effects on the simulated distribution of nitrogen isotopes, whereas the effect from zooplankton excretion is weaker. Both water column and sedimentary denitrification also have important indirect effects on the nitrogen isotope distribution by reducing the fixed nitrogen inventory, which creates an ecological niche for nitrogen fixers and, thus, stimulates additional N2 fixation in the model. Important model deficiencies are identified, and strategies for future improvement and possibilities for model application are outlined.
    Type: Article , PeerReviewed
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  • 3
    Publication Date: 2020-06-19
    Description: We present 42 dual-isotope nitrate analyses of fresh water samples collected in the St. Lawrence River between June 2006 and July 2008. Measured δ15N–NO3 − and δ18O–NO3 − values correlate negatively, while δ18O–NO3 − displays no negative correlation with nitrate concentration. This suggests that nitrate uptake and/or elimination by denitrification is not the main driver of observed variations in nitrate concentration and isotopic signature in the St. Lawrence River. In addition, δ18O–NO3 − is negatively correlated with the seasonally variable δ18O of ambient water, indicating that the variation in the isotopic signature of nitrate is barely modulated by in-stream nitrate regeneration (nitrification). It rather is constrained by along-river changes in the external sources of nitrate. Given the distinct nitrogen (N) and oxygen (O) isotopic signature of atmospheric nitrate, we argue that observed seasonal variations of δ15N–NO3 − and δ18O–NO3 − in the St. Lawrence River are due to variable contributions of snowmelt-derived water. Based on a N and O isotope mass balance, we show that total nitrate loading in the St. Lawrence River is dominated by a N input from the Great Lakes (47 ± 28 %) and from nitrate regeneration of both internal and external N (48 ± 22 %). While temporal nitrate N and O isotope dynamics in the St. Lawrence River are mainly influenced by the atmospheric N input fluctuations, with an increase in atmospheric loading during spring, atmospheric N plays overall a rather insignificant role with regards to the N budget (5 ± 4 %).
    Type: Article , PeerReviewed
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  • 4
    Publication Date: 2013-12-19
    Type: Conference or Workshop Item , NonPeerReviewed
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  • 5
    Publication Date: 2022-05-25
    Description: Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2005. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Global Biogeochemical Cycles 19 (2005): GB4005, doi:10.1029/2005GB002508.
    Description: On the basis of the normalization to phosphate, a significant amount of nitrate is missing from the deep Bering Sea (BS). Benthic denitrification has been suggested previously to be the dominant cause for the BS nitrate deficit. We measured water column nitrate 15N/14N and 18O/16O as integrative tracers of microbial denitrification, together with pore water-derived benthic nitrate fluxes in the deep BS basin, in order to gain new constraints on the mechanism of fixed nitrogen loss in the BS. The lack of any nitrate isotope enrichment into the deep part of the BS supports the benthic denitrification hypothesis. On the basis of the nitrate deficit in the water column with respect to the adjacent North Pacific and a radiocarbon-derived ventilation age of ∼50 years, we calculate an average deep BS (〉2000 m water depth) sedimentary denitrification rate of ∼230 μmol N m−2 d−1 (or 1.27 Tg N yr−1), more than 3 times higher than high-end estimates of the average global sedimentary denitrification rate for the same depth interval. Pore water-derived estimates of benthic denitrification were variable, and uncertainties in estimates were large. A very high denitrification rate measured from the base of the steep northern slope of the basin suggests that the elevated average sedimentary denitrification rate of the deep Bering calculated from the nitrate deficit is driven by organic matter supply to the base of the continental slope, owing to a combination of high primary productivity in the surface waters along the shelf break and efficient down-slope sediment focusing along the steep continental slopes that characterize the BS.
    Description: This study was supported by NSF grants OCE-0136449 and OCE-9981479 to D. M. S., OCE-0118126 and OCE-0324987 to D. C. M., and DFG grant LE 1326/1-1 to M. F. L. The BS cruise was funded by grant OPP-9912122.
    Keywords: Bering Sea ; Denitrification ; Nitrate isotopes
    Repository Name: Woods Hole Open Access Server
    Type: Article
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