Carbonate chemistry in sediment porewaters of the Rhône River delta
driven by early diagenesis (northwestern Mediterranean)

Rassmann, Jens; Lansard, Bruno; Pozzato, Lara; Rabouille, Christophe

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-5379-2016

Articles | Volume 13, issue 18

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-5379-2016

© Author(s) 2016. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-5379-2016

© Author(s) 2016. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Articles | Volume 13, issue 18

Research article

|

27 Sep 2016

Research article |

| 27 Sep 2016

Carbonate chemistry in sediment porewaters of the Rhône River delta driven by early diagenesis (northwestern Mediterranean)

Jens Rassmann, Bruno Lansard, Lara Pozzato, and Christophe Rabouille

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Final revised paper (published on 27 Sep 2016)
Preprint (discussion started on 23 May 2016)

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

AC: Author comment | RC: Referee comment | SC: Short comment | EC: Editor comment

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AC1: 'Figure confusion', Jens Rassmann, 01 Jun 2016
RC1: 'Review of Rassmann et al. “Carbonate chemistry in sediment pore waters …”', David Burdige, 15 Jun 2016
- AC2: 'Responses to the referees' comments, Reviewer #1 D. Burdige', Jens Rassmann, 05 Sep 2016
RC2: 'Review of Rassmann et al.', Anonymous Referee #2, 24 Jul 2016
- AC3: 'Manuscript revision (doi:10.5194/bg-2016-212): Responses to the referees' comments, Reviewer #2', Jens Rassmann, 05 Sep 2016

Peer-review completion

AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision

ED: Reconsider after major revisions (14 Sep 2016) by Jack Middelburg

AR by Jens Rassmann on behalf of the Authors (14 Sep 2016) Author's response Manuscript

ED: Publish subject to technical corrections (14 Sep 2016) by Jack Middelburg

Dear Dr. Rassmann:

I have read your revised version and rebuttal and I am happy to inform you that your paper is now accepted for publication in Biogeosciences. However, while reading your paper I identified some minor issues that require correction.

L. 14 and all through: use “pore-water” with hyphen if an adjective
L. 15: reformulate TA is not a concentration
L. 19: delete aerobic: you cannot see the difference between re-oxidation and aerobic respiration from OPD.
L. 22: aerobic processes, oxic conditions: hence use aerobic here
L. 74: I do not understand this. The knowledge presented in Berners’ 1980 book is sufficient to explain all this. Reformulate.
L. 101: delete differs
L. 140: sediment accumulation or sediment deposition?
L. 283/284: TA is not a concentration: rewrite
L. 299: Existing numerical tools have been developed…. Water column. Nevertheless we used…….
Is the neglect of metabolites in TA calculation not the real problem?
L. 313: indicate high sulfate..
L. 334-352: this whole section needs referencing. These reaction have been worked out in detail by Boudreau, Soetaert and others.
L. 360: denitrification pathway does not involved re-oxidation because N2 escapes and thus contributes disproportionally.
L. 372: I suggest deleting aerobic. Not needed and geochemists have since appreciated more re-oxidation.
L. 435: Denitrification section should mention that N2 is not oxidized and thus TA can escape.

References list: my name is twice misspelled: Arndt et al. reference and Soetaert et al. reference.

Table 2: please check your reactions: R6 is unbalanced and its effect on TA, saturation degree, DIC etc is not mentioned
Also R15 has an effect on pH but that is complex function of pH (see Soetaert et al. 2007).

With best regards,

Jack Middelburg, Associate Editor

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AR by Jens Rassmann on behalf of the Authors (15 Sep 2016) Author's response Manuscript

Short summary

In situ O₂ and pH measurements as well as determination of porewater concentrations of dissolved inorganic carbon, total alkalinity, sulfate and calcium have been measured in the sediments of the Rhône prodelta. Biogeochemical activity decreased with distance from the river mouth. Oxic processes decreased the carbonate saturation state (Ω) by lowering pH, whereas anaerobic organic matter degradation, dominated by sulfate reduction, was accompanied by increasing Ω and carbonate precipitation.