Off-Shelf Transport and Biogeochemical Cycling of Terrestrial Organic Carbon Along the East Siberian Continental Margin

Abstract

Continental margins receive, process and sequester most of the terrestrial organic carbon (terrOC) released into the ocean. In the Arctic, increasing fluvial discharge and collapsing permafrost are expected to enhance terrOC release and degradation, leading to ocean acidification and translocated CO₂ release to the atmosphere. However, the processes controlling terrOC transport beyond the continental shelf, and the amount of terrOC that reaches the slope and the rise are poorly described. Here we study terrOC transport to the Laptev Sea continental slope and rise by probing surface sediments with dual-isotope (δ¹³C/Δ¹⁴C) source apportionment, degradation-diagnostic terrestrial biomarkers (n-alkanes, n-alkanoic acids, lignin phenols) and ²¹⁰Pb_xs-based mass accumulation rates (MAR). The MAR-terrOC (g m⁻² yr⁻¹) decrease from 14.7 ± 12.2 on the shelf, to 7.0 ± 5.8 over the slope, to 2.3 ± 0.3 for the rise. Scaling this to the respective regimes yields that 80% of the terrOC accumulates on the shelf, while 11% and 9% of the accumulation occurs in slope and rise sediments, respectively. TerrOC remineralization is evidenced by biomarker degradation proxies (CPI of n-alkanes and 3,5Bd/V) indicating 40% and 60% more terrOC degradation from slope to rise, consistent with a decline in terrOC concentrations by 57%. TerrOC degradation only partially explains this decline. An updated Laptev Sea terrOC budget suggests that sediment transport dynamics such as turbidity currents may drive terrOC shelf-basin export, contributing to the observed accumulation pattern. This study quantitatively demonstrates that Arctic shelf seas are key receptor systems for remobilized terrOC, emphasizing their importance in the carbon cycle of the rapidly changing Arctic.