Project: Ocean Frontier Institute Seed Fund Grant: Bedford Basin 2019

In coastal regions, the transport of carbon from surface waters to the seafloor is a key mechanism of carbon burial and it has been suggested that one-fifth of the carbon entering coastal areas off of eastern North America (from the atmosphere and through rivers) is subsequently buried in these coastal areas (Najjar et al., 2018). However, direct measurements coupling carbon fluxes in coastal waters to accumulation in sediment remains a challenge.

Bedford Basin is a well-studied coastal system in Nova Scotia, Canada (Bedford Basin Monitoring Program) that can provide unique insight into carbon cycling in these shallow marine regions. To quantify sinking particulate carbon and benthic-pelagic carbon cycling, and to examine the potential factors influencing coastal carbon budgets, carbon content and radioisotope (i.e., Thorium-234) measurements were collected at the Compass Station in Bedford Basin at four time periods (February to August 2019). Sediment cores and seawater samples were analyzed. Size fractionated filtration was performed to examine differences in 'sinking' (>51 micrometers) and 'suspended' (1-51 micrometers) particulate organic carbon and Thorium-234.

References Cited:
Najjar, R. G., et al. (2018). Carbon Budget of Tidal Wetlands, Estuaries, and Shelf Waters of Eastern North America. In Global Biogeochemical Cycles (Vol. 32, Issue 3, pp. 389–416). American Geophysical Union (AGU). https://doi.org/10.1002/2017gb005790