Biogeosciences www.biogeosciences.net 1726-4170 1726-4189 4 2 2007 10.5194/bg-4-155-2007 http://www.biogeosciences.net/4/155/2007/ http://www.biogeosciences.net/4/155/2007/bg-4-155-2007.html http://www.biogeosciences.net/4/155/2007/bg-4-155-2007.pdf 155 171 2007-02-22 The global marine phosphorus cycle: sensitivity to oceanic circulation C. P. Slomp slomp@geo.uu.nl P. Van Cappellen Department of Earth Sciences – Geochemistry, Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80021, 3508 TA Utrecht, The Netherlands A new mass balance model for the coupled marine cycles of phosphorus (P) and carbon (C) is used to examine the relationships between oceanic circulation, primary productivity, and sedimentary burial of reactive P and particulate organic C (POC), on geological time scales. The model explicitly represents the exchanges of water and particulate matter between the continental shelves and the open ocean, and it accounts for the redox-dependent burial of POC and the various forms of reactive P (iron(III)-bound P, particulate organic P (POP), authigenic calcium phosphate, and fish debris). Steady state and transient simulations indicate that a slowing down of global ocean circulation decreases primary production in the open ocean, but increases that in the coastal ocean. The latter is due to increased transfer of soluble P from deep ocean water to the shelves, where it fuels primary production and causes increased reactive P burial. While authigenic calcium phosphate accounts for most reactive P burial ocean-wide, enhanced preservation of fish debris may become an important reactive P sink in deep-sea sediments during periods of ocean anoxia. 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