Hypoxia causes preservation of labile organic matter and changes seafloor microbial community composition (Black Sea)
Journal: Science Advances
Year: 2017

Bottom-water oxygen supply is a key factor governing the biogeochemistry and community composition of marine sediments. Whether it also determines carbon burial rates remains controversial. We investigated the effect of varying oxygen concentrations (170 to 0 μM O<sub>2</sub>) on microbial remineralization of organic matter in seafloor sediments and on community diversity of the northwestern Crimean shelf break. This study shows that 50% more organic matter is preserved in surface sediments expo