Efficient sequestration of terrigenous organic carbon in the New Britain Trench

Abstract

The fate of terrigenous organic carbon (OCterr) in the ocean remains an enigma for four decades. Hadal trenches, the deepest ocean realm (6–11 km deep), were recently proposed to be OC depocenters, but whether and how much OCterr was sequestrated there remain elusive. Here we conducted comprehensive analyses for four sediment cores from the New Britain Trench (NBT) close to Papua New Guinea to assess source, translocation and burial of OC. The bulk and molecular radiocarbon data suggest that the NBT landward slope and axis sediments mainly receive young and biogenic rather than petrogenic OC. The three-endmember mixing model based on Δ14C, δ13C and OC contents reveals that sediments of the NBT axis (8225 m) comprise relatively high OC contents (0.66 ± 0.08%), of which biogenic OCterr accounts for 62 ± 10%. The high proportion of biogenic OCterr was attributed to the selective translocation of OCterr-enriched coarse particles and rapid delivery of sediments supported by unique V-shape feature of the trench. In contrast, the sediment OC at the oceanward slope is primarily of a marine origin, suggesting that OCterr was efficiently trapped in the trench bottom. It is estimated that the burial rate is 2.75 ± 0.32 g C m−2 yr−1 for OC and 1.69 ± 0.41 g C m−2 yr−1 for OCterr in the NBT. Given a fact that many trenches are close to the landmasses, we propose that the hadal trenches may contribute significantly to the burial of OCterr in the ocean.