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Sources and Cycling of Organic Matter in the Marine Water Column

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Book cover Marine Organic Matter: Biomarkers, Isotopes and DNA

Part of the book series: The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry ((HEC2,volume 2N))

Abstract

The organic carbon cycle operates on multiple time scales with a only small fraction of the global reservoir actively exchanged. For the marine system, the sources are principally recently synthesized material from autotrophic production which annually contribute 44–50 Pg/year of new organic carbon. This is supplemented by terrestrial carbon arriving from rivers, erosion and the atmosphere which contribute to the complex mixture present on oceanic waters. The focus of this review is to highlight the major sources or organic carbon and describe how the interaction of biological, chemical and physical processes provides an efficient mechanism for its eventual recycling.

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Acknowledgments

I thank members of the MOGEL group for their input on illustrations and text and Brenda Yates for technical assistance. Generous support for much of our work has come from the Chemical Oceanography and Polar Program Divisions of the National Science Foundation. This is contribution number 3889 of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science.

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  1. University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, PO Box 38, MD 20688, Solomons, USA

    H. Rodger Harvey

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John K. Volkman

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Harvey, H.R. Sources and Cycling of Organic Matter in the Marine Water Column. In: Volkman, J.K. (eds) Marine Organic Matter: Biomarkers, Isotopes and DNA. The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry, vol 2N. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/698_2_001

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