Abstract
Sediment traps were deployed at several locations throughout the Western North Atlantic to measure export and resuspension fluxes. Unpublished nephelometer profiles were examined prior to each cruise and water samples were filtered during each cruise to determine the distribution of particles in the water column, especially the nepheloid layer. Fluxes measured in boundary layers are probably overestimates of the net flux because of secondary circulation and turbulence. Therefore, export fluxes should be measured below the surface mixed layer and above the bottom boundary layer. In areas of active resuspension it is recommended that the export flux reaching the seafloor be measured at least 500 m above bottom to avoid including a resuspension flux component. Our flux data were combined with other data published for the Western North Atlantic to look for regional trends. Seasonal variations in the export flux of organic carbon measured 1000 m above the seafloor by Deuser (1987) (0.2–4.2 mgC/cm2/day) were larger than most of the spatial variations in the deep basin. Therefore, to accurately assess the spatial variations of export flux, it is necessary to measure the annual export flux, preferably in a time-series mode to determine the seasonal as well as the annual signal.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Aller, J.Y. (1989) Quantifying sediment disturbance by bottom currents and its effect on benthic communities in a deep-sea western boundary zone, Deep-Sea Res. 36, 901–934.
Angel, M.V. (l989a) Does mesopelagic biology affect the vertical flux?, In W.H. Berger, V.S. Smetacek, and G. Wefer (eds.), Productivity of the Ocean: Present and Past, John Wiley and Sons, Chichester, pp. 155–173.
Angel, M.V. (1989b) Vertical profiles of pelagic standing crop in the vicinity of the Azores Front and their implications to deep ocean ecology, Prog. Ocean. 22, 1–46.
Angel, M.V. and Baker, A. de C. (1982) Vertical distribution of the standing crop of plankton and micronekton at three stations in the northeast Atlantic, Biol. Ocean. 2, 1–29.
Armi, L. (1978) Mixing in the deep ocean-The importance of boundaries, Oceanus 21, 14–19.
Armi, L. and D’Asaro, E. (1980) Flow structures of the Benthic Ocean, Jour. Geophys. Res. 85, 469–484.
Armi, L. and Millard, R.C. (1976) The bottom boundary layer of the deep ocean, Jour. Geophys. Res. 91, 4983–4990.
Asper, V.L. (1987) Measuring the flux and sinking speed of marine snow aggregates. Deep-Sea Res. 34, 1–17.
Ayer, E.A. and Laine, E.P. (1982) Seismic stratigraphy of the northern Bermuda Rise, Mar. Geol. 49, 169–186.
Berger, W.H., Smetacek, V.S., and Wefer, G. (eds.) (1989) Productivity of the Ocean: Present and Past, John Wiley and Sons, Chichester, 471 pp.
Betzer, P.R., Showers, W.J., Laws, E.A., Winn, C.D., DiTullio, G.R., and Kroopnick, P.M. (1984) Primary productivity and particle fluxes on a transect of the equator at 1530 W in the Pacific Ocean, Deep-Sea Res. 31, 1–11.
Bird, A. A., Weatherly, G.L., and Wimbush, M. (1982) A study of the bottom boundary layer over the Eastward Scarp of the Bermuda Rise, Jour. Geophys. Res. 87, 7941–7954.
Biscaye, P.E. (1965) Mineralogy and sedimentation of recent deep-sea clay in the Atlantic Ocean and adjacent seas and oceans, Geol. Soc. Amer. Bull. 76, 803–832.
Biscaye, P.E. and Eittreim, S.L. (1977) Suspended particulate loads and transports in the nepheloid layer of the abyssal Atlantic Ocean, Mar. Geol. 23, 155–172.
Biscaye, P.E., Anderson, R.F., and Deck, B.L. (1988) Fluxes of particles and constituents to the eastern United States continental slope and rise: SEEP-I, Cont. Shelf Res. 8, 855–904.
Brown, E., Owens, W.B., and Bryden, H.L. (1986) Eddy-potential vorticity fluxes in the Gulf Stream recirculation, Jour. Phys. Oceanogr. 16, 523–531.
Cantwell, B.J. (1981) Organized motion in turbulent flow, Ann. Rev. Fluid Mech. 13, 457–515.
Daniault, N. and Menard, Y. (1985) Eddy kinetic energy distribution in the Southern Ocean from altimetry and FGGE drifting buoys, Jour. Geophys. Res. 90, 11877–11889.
Deuser, W.G. (1987) Seasonal variations in isotopic composition and deep-water fluxes of the tests of perennially abundant planktonic foraminifera of the Sargasso Sea: results from sediment-trap collections and their paleoceanographic significance, Jour. Foram. Res. 17, 14–27.
Deuser, W. G. and Ross, E.H. (1980) Seasonal change in the flux of organic carbon to the deep Sargasso Sea, Nature 283, 364–365.
Gardner, W.D. (1977) Incomplete extraction of rapidly settling particles from water samples, Limnol. Oceanogr. 22, 764–768.
Gardner, W.D. (1983) Suspended sediment transport in Baltimore Canyon and adjacent slope In: Canyon and Slope Processes Study, Vol. II, Minerals Management Service Final Report, p. 135–241.
Gardner, W.D. (1985) The effect of tilt on sediment trap efficiency. Deep-Sea Res. 32, 349–36l.
Gardner, W.D. (1989) Baltimore Canyon as a modern conduit of sediment to the deep sea, Deep-Sea Res. 36, 323–358.
Gardner, W.D., Biscaye, P.E., and Tucholke, B.E. (1986) Nepheloid layers, eddy kinetic energy and benthic storms, EOS, Trans. Amer. Geophys. Union 67, 1018.
Gardner, W.D., Biscaye, P.E., Zaneveld, J.R.V., and Richardson, M.J. (1985a) Calibration and comparison of the LDGO nephelometer and the OSU transmissometer on the Nova Scotian rise, Mar. Geology 66, 323–344.
Gardner, W. D., M.J. Richardson, K. Hinga and P.E. Biscaye (1983) Resuspension measured with sediment traps in a high-energy environment, Earth and Planet. Sci. Lett. 66, 262–278.
Gardner, W.D., Southard, J.B., and Hollister, C.D. (1985b) Sedimentation, resuspension and chemistry of particles in the northwest Atlantic, Mar. Geol. 65, 199–242.
Gardner, W.D. and Sullivan, L.G. (1981) Benthic storms: temporal variability in a deep ocean nepheloid layer, Science 213, 329–331.
Gardner, W.D., Sullivan, L.G., and Thorndike, E.M. (1984) Long-term photographic, current, and nephelometer observations of manganese nodule environments in the Pacific, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 70, 95–109.
Gardner, W.D. and Walsh, I.D. (1990) The role of aggregates in horizontal and vertical flux across a continental margin, Deep-Sea Res. 37, 401–412.
Gardner, W.D., Walsh, I.D., and Richardson, M.J., Biophysical forcing of particle production and distribution during a spring bloom in the North Atlantic, Deep-Sea Res. (submitted).
Gooday, A.J. (1988) A response by benthic Foraminifera to the deposition of phytodetritus in the deep sea, Nature 332, 70–73.
Grimalt, J.O., Simoneit, B.R.T., Gomez-Belinchon, J.I., Fischer, K., and Dymond, J. (1990) Ascending and descending fluxes of lipid compounds in North Atlantic and North Pacific abyssal waters, Nature 345, 147–150.
Gross, T.F., Williams, A.J. and Nowell, A.R.M. (1988) A deep-sea sediment transport storm. Nature 331, 518–521.
Hargrave, B.T. and Bums, N.M. (1979) Assessment of sediment trap collection efficiency. Limnol. Oceanogr. 24, 1124–1136.
Hinga, K.R. (1985) Evidence for a higher average primary productivity in the Pacific than in the Atlantic ocean. Deep-Sea. Res. 32: 117–126.
Hinga, K.R., Sieburth, J. McN., and Heath, G.R. (1979) The supply and use of organic material at the deep-sea floor, Jour. Mar. Res. 37, 557–579.
Hollister, C. D. and McCave, I.N. (1984) Sedimentation under deep-sea storms, Nature 309, 220–222.
Honjo, S. (1982) Seasonality and interaction of biogenic and lithogenic particulate flux at the Panama Basin, Science 218, 883–884.
Honjo, S. (1980) Material fluxes and modes of sedimentation in the mesopelagic and bathypelagic zones, Jour. Mar. Res. 38, 53–97.
Honjo, S. (1978) Sedimentation of materials in the Sargasso Sea at a 5,267 m deep station, Jour. Mar. Res. 36, 469–492.
Jahnke, R.A. and Jackson, J.A. (1987) Role of sea floor organisms in oxygen consumption in the deep North Pacific Ocean, Nature 329, 621–623.
Laine, E.P. and Hollister, C.D. (1981) Geological effects of the Gulf Stream system on the northern Bermuda Rise, Mar. Geol. 39, 277–310.
Laine, E.P., Gardner, W.D., Richardson, M.J., and Kominz, M. (in preparation) Currents and the advection of suspended matter above the northern Bermuda Rise.
Lampitt, R.S. (1985) Evidence for the seasonal deposition of detritus to the deep-sea floor and its subsequent resuspension, Deep-Sea Res. 32, 885–897.
Lande, R. and Wood, A.M. (1987) Suspension time of particles in the upper ocean, Deep-Sea Res. 34, 61–72.
Lonsdale, P. (1978) Bedforms and the benthic boundary layer in the North Atlantic: a cruise report of Indomed Leg II, SIO Reference 78–30.
McCave, I.N., Hollister, C.D., DeMaster, D.J., Nillrouer, C.A., Silva, A.J., and Yingst, J.Y. (1984) Analysis of a longitudinal ripple from the Nova Scotian continental rise, Mar. Geol. 58, 275–286.
Miller, M.C., McCave, I.N., and Komar, P.D. (1977) Threshold of sediment motion under unidirectional currents, Sedimentology 24, 507–527.
Nowell, A.R.M. and Hollister, C.D. (1985) Deep Ocean Sediment Transport, Elsevier, New York.
Price, J.F., Weller, R.A., and Pinkel, R. (1986) Diurnal cycling: observations and models of the upper ocean response to diurnal heating, cooling, and wind mixing. J. Geophys.Res. 91, 8411–8427.
Richardson, M.J. and Hollister, C.D. (1987) Compositional changes in particulate matter on the Iceland Rise through the water column and at the seafloor, Jour. Mar. Res. 45, 175–200.
Richardson, M.J., Weatherly, G.L., and Gardner, W.D. (in press) Benthic storms in the Argentine Basin, Deep-Sea Res.
Rowe, G.T. and Gardner, W.D. (1979) Sedimentation rates in the slope waters of the northwest Atlantic Ocean measured direcUy with sediment traps, Jour. Mar. Res. 37, 581–600.
Sandwell, D.T. and Zhang B. (1989) Global mesoscale variability from the Geosat repeat mission: correlation with ocean depth, Jour. Geophys. Res. 94, 17971–17984.
Schmitz, W. J. (1984) Abyssal eddy kinetic energy in the North Atlantic, Jour. Mar. Res. 42, 509–536.
Siegel, D.A., Granata, T.C., Michaels, A.F., and Dickey, T.D. (1990) Mesoscale eddy diffusion, particle sinking, and the interpretation of sediment trap data, Jour. Geophys. Res. 95, 5305–5311.
Smith, K.L. and Hinga, K.R. (1983) Sediment community respiration in the deep sea, In G.T. Rowe (ed.), The Sea, vol. 8, pp. 331–371.
Suess, E. (1980) Particulate organic carbon flux in the oceans-surface productivity and oxygen utilization. Nature 288, 260–263.
Sugimura, Y. and Suzuki, Y. (1988) A high temperature catalytic oxidation method of nonvolatile dissolved organic carbon in seawater by direct injection of liquid sample, Mar. Chem. 24, 105–131.
Thistle, D., Yingst, J.Y., and Fauchald, K. (1985) A deep-sea benthic community exposed to strong near-bottom currents on the Scotian rise (western Atlantic), Mar. Geol. 66, 91–112.
Thomson, R.E., Gordon, R.L., and Dolling, A.G. (1991) An intense acoustic scattering layer at the top of a mid-ocean ridge hydrothermal plume, Jour. Geophys. Res. 96, 4839–4844.
Thomson, R.E., Gordon, R.L., and Dymond, J. (1989) Acoustic Doppler current profiler observations of a mid-ocean ridge hydrothermal plume, Jour. Geophys. Res. 94, 4709–4720.
Toggweiler, J.R. (1989) Is the downward dissolved organic matter (DOM) flux important in carbon transport?, in W.H. Berger, V.S. Smetacek, and G. Wefer (eds.), Productivity of the Ocean: Present and Past, John Wiley and Sons, Chichester, pp. 65–83.
U.S. GOFS Working Group (1989) Sediment trap technology and sampling, Report of the U.S. GOFS Working Group on Sediment Trap Technology and Sampling, November 1988.
Vinogradov, M.E. (1962) The feeding of deep-sea zooplankton. Rapp. Proc. Verb., Cons. Int. Explor. Mer. 153, 114–120
Walsh, I., Dymond, J., and Collier, R. (1988a) Rates of recycling of biogenic components of settling particles in the ocean derived from sediment trap experiments, Deep-Sea Res. 35, 43–58.
Walsh, I., Fischer, K., Murray, D., and Dymond, J. (1988b) Evidence for resuspension of rebound particles from ncar-bottom sediment traps, Deep-Sea Res. 35, 59–70.
Weatherly, G.L. (1984) An estimate of bottom frictional dissipation by Gulf Stream fluctuations, Jour. Mar. Res. 42, 289–301.
Wefer, G. (1989) Particle flux in the ocean: effects of episodic production, In W.H. Berger, V.S. Smetacek, and G. Wefer (eds.), Productivity of the Ocean: Present and Past, John Wiley and Sons, Chichester, pp.139–154.
Weller, R.A, Dean, J.P., Marra, J., Price, J. F., Francis, E.A., and Boardman, D.C. (1986) Three-dimensional flow in the upper ocean, Science 227, 1552–1556.
Wimbush, M. and Lesht, B. (1979) Current-induced sediment movement in the deep Florida Straits: critical parameters, Jour. Geophys. Res. 84, 2495–2502.
Wimbush, M. and Munk, W. (1970) The benthic boundary layer, In A.E. Maxwell (ed.), The Sea, Vol 4, Wiley and Sons, New York, pp. 731–758.
Young, R.A. and Southard, J.B. (1978) Erosion of line-grained marine sediments: seafloor and laboratory experiments, Geol. Soc. Amer. Bull. 89, 663–672.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1992 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Gardner, W.D., Richardson, M.J. (1992). Particle Export and Resuspension Fluxes in The Western North Atlantic. In: Rowe, G.T., Pariente, V. (eds) Deep-Sea Food Chains and the Global Carbon Cycle. NATO ASI Series, vol 360. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-2452-2_21
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-2452-2_21
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-010-5082-1
Online ISBN: 978-94-011-2452-2
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive