Clay mineral contintal amplifier for marine carbon sequestration in a greenhouse ocean
The majority of carbon sequestration at the Earth’s surface occurs in marine continental margin settings within fine-grained sediments whose mineral properties are a function of continental climatic conditions. We report very high mineral surface area (MSA) values of 300 and 570 m2 g in Late Cretaceous black shales from Ocean Drilling Program site 959 of the Deep Ivorian Basin that vary on subcentennial time scales corresponding with abrupt increases from approximately 3 to approximately 18% total organic carbon (TOC). The observed MSA changes with TOC across multiple scales of variability and on a sample-by-sample basis (centimeter scale),
provides a rigorous test of a hypothesized influence on organic car-
bon burial by detrital clay mineral controlled MSA. Changes in TOC
also correspond with geochemical and sedimentological evidence
for water column anoxia.
http://www.pnas.org/content/108/24/9776.abstract?etoc