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Annual Review of Marine Science

Volume 16, 2024

The Global Turbidity Current Pump and Its Implications for Organic Carbon Cycling

Abstract

Submarine turbidity currents form the largest sediment accumulations on Earth, raising the question of their role in global carbon cycles. It was previously inferred that terrestrial organic carbon was primarily incinerated on shelves and that most turbidity current systems are presently inactive. Turbidity currents were thus not considered in global carbon cycles, and the burial efficiency of global terrestrial organic carbon was considered low to moderate (∼10–44%). However, recent work has shown that burial of terrestrial organic carbon by turbidity currents is highly efficient (>60–100%) in a range of settings and that flows occur more frequently than once thought, although they were far more active at sea-level lowstands. This leads to revised global estimates for mass flux (∼62–90 Mt C/year) and burial efficiency (∼31–45%) of terrestrial organic carbon in marine sediments. Greatly increased burial fluxes during sea-level lowstands are also likely underestimated; thus, organic carbon cycling by turbidity currents could play a role in long-term changes in atmospheric CO and climate.

Keyword(s): burial efficiency, marine organic carbon, organic carbon cycling, submarine fan, terrestrial organic carbon, turbidity current
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2024-01-17
2024-04-27
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The Global Turbidity Current Pump and Its Implications for Organic Carbon Cycling
Annual Review of Marine Science 16, 105 (2024); https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-marine-032223-103626
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