Oceanic phosphorus cycling in modern and ancient metalliferous sediments

Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.

Project objective

Adsorption to hydro thermally derived iron (oxyhydr)oxide particles is an important oceanic sink for dissolved phosphorus, which is an essential nutrient for marine productivity. This project will investigate the cycling of phosphorus in hydro thermally derived iron (oxyhydr)oxide sediments. Phosphorus mobility will be investigated with chemical and mineralogical analyses of a wide range of hydrothermal sediments. The diagenetic remobilisation and secondary mineralisation of phosphorus adsorbed to iron (oxyhydr)oxides will also be examined experimentally during dissolution by dissimilatory iron reducing bacteria. These results will form the basis of the first detailed study of phosphorus mobility in hydrothermal sediments and will allow the quantification of the major fluxes, phase associations and pathways for phosphorus retention in hydrothermal sediments on a global scale. The nature of phosphorus cycling in modern hydrothermal sediments will be considered relative to the phosphorus and iron contents of late Archean and early Proterozoic Banded Iron Formations. Detailed chemical and mineralogical analyses of well-preserved Banded Iron Formation sediments will be combined with adsorption experiments to constrain ancient oceanic phosphorus concentrations. These estimates will be utilised in the form of a biogeochemical ocean model to explore the interaction between phosphorus, organic matter synthesis, and the rise of atmospheric oxygen during the Archean and Proterozoic.

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

• UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN DENMARK - UNIVERSITY OF ODENSE · ODENSECoordinatorDenmark

Links

• View on CORDIS