Abstract
An interdisciplinary benthic process study is proposed for surficial sediments across the oxygen minimum zone on the Pakistan margin. A quantitative study of benthic communities will be combined with comprehensive geochemical analyses of sediments and porewaters, tracer incubation studies and measurements of benthic fluxes and bacterial processes. Objectives are to assess a) community structure and function and controls thereon, b) redox status and fluxes of DOC, nutrients and trace metals, c) faunal organic matter (OM) alteration and trophic interactions, d) rates of sediment accumulation and biomixing, and aerobic and anaerobic microbial processes, and e) OM burial efficiencies. The results will clarify the role of the benthos as a control on sediment biogeochemistry and OM distributions, and will yield improved diagenetic process models.
United Kingdom