Drivers of Oxygen Consumption in the Northern Gulf of Mexico Hypoxic Waters-A Stable Carbon Isotope Perspective Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • AbstractWe examined the stable carbon isotopic composition of remineralized organic carbon (13COCx) in the northern Gulf of Mexico (nGoM) using incubations (sediment and water) and a threeendmember mixing model. 13COCx in incubating sediments was 18.11.3, and 13COCx in incubating nearsurface and nearbottom waters varied with salinity, ranging from 30.4 to 16.2 from brackish water to fullstrength Gulf water. The average 13COCx was 18.61.8 at salinity >23. A threeendmember mixing model based on a multiyear data set collected in previous summer hypoxia cruises (2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, and 2016) suggested that 13COCx in nearbottom waters across the nGoM (550m) was 18.10.6. The close agreement of 13COCx obtained from the three independent approaches, that is, incubations of water column, surface sediments, and mixing model, suggests that 13Cenriched organic matter of marine origin played the dominant role in nearbottom water and benthic oxygen consumption in the nGoM shelf in summer.

published proceedings

  • GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS

altmetric score

  • 2.5

author list (cited authors)

  • Wang, H., Hu, X., Rabalais, N. N., & Brandes, J.

citation count

  • 12

complete list of authors

  • Wang, Hongjie||Hu, Xinping||Rabalais, Nancy N||Brandes, Jay

publication date

  • October 2018