Biogeosciences www.biogeosciences.net 1726-4170 1726-4189 6 4 2009 10.5194/bg-6-663-2009 http://www.biogeosciences.net/6/663/2009/ http://www.biogeosciences.net/6/663/2009/bg-6-663-2009.html http://www.biogeosciences.net/6/663/2009/bg-6-663-2009.pdf 663 680 2009-04-27 Carbon mineralization and carbonate preservation in modern cold-water coral reef sediments on the Norwegian shelf L. M. Wehrmann lwehrman@mpi-bremen.de N. J. Knab H. Pirlet V. Unnithan C. Wild T. G. Ferdelman Biogeochemistry Research Group, Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Celsiusstrasse 1, 28359 Bremen, Germany Coral Reef Ecology Work Group (CORE), GeoBio-Center, Ludwig-Maximilians Universität, Richard-Wagner-Strasse 10, 80333 München, Germany Renard Centre of Marine Geology, Department of Geology and Soil Science, Ghent University, Krijgslaan 281 s.8, 9000 Gent, Belgium School of Engineering and Science, Jacobs University Bremen, Campus Ring 1, 28759 Bremen, Germany Cold-water coral ecosystems are considered hot-spots of biodiversity and biomass production and may be a regionally important contributor to carbonate production. The impact of these ecosystems on biogeochemical processes and carbonate preservation in associated sediments were studied at Røst Reef and Traenadjupet Reef, two modern (post-glacial) cold-water coral reefs on the Mid-Norwegian shelf. Sulfate and iron reduction as well as carbonate dissolution and precipitation were investigated by combining pore-water geochemical profiles, steady state modeling, as well as solid phase analyses and sulfate reduction rate measurements on gravity cores of up to 3.25 m length. Low extents of sulfate depletion and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) production, combined with sulfate reduction rates not exceeding 3 nmol S cm^−3 d^−1, suggested that overall anaerobic carbon mineralization in the sediments was low. These data showed that the coral fragment-bearing siliciclastic sediments were effectively decoupled from the productive pelagic ecosystem by the complex reef surface framework. Organic matter being mineralized by sulfate reduction was calculated to consist of 57% carbon bound in CH₂O groups and 43% carbon in -CH₂- groups. 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