HR: 0800h
AN: OS51C-05    [Abstracts]
TI: The Contribution of Various Types of Settling Particles to the Flux of Organic Carbon in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, CAN
AU: Romero, N
EM: nromero@ipn.mx
AF: Centro Interdisciplinario de Ciencias Marinas (Cicimar-IPN), Av. Instituto Politecnico Nacional s/n Col. Playa Palo de Santa Rita, La Paz, BCS 23096, Mexico
AU: * Silverberg, N
EM: silverb@ipn.mx
AF: Centro Interdisciplinario de Ciencias Marinas (Cicimar-IPN), Av. Instituto Politecnico Nacional s/n Col. Playa Palo de Santa Rita, La Paz, BCS 23096, Mexico
AB: The contents of 32 free-drifting sediment traps deployed in the Gulf of St. Lawrence (GSL) during the Canadian JGOFS program in 1993-1994 were analyzed for the total carbon flux (essentially POC) and the C contribution attributable to the different types of sedimenting particles. Two kinds of trap were used: small traps (0.03 m²) deployed at 50 m (which showed a consistent bias towards higher fluxes) and large traps (1/8 m²) at 50 and 150 m. Mean POC fluxes amounted to 42 and 149 mg C m^-2d^{- 1} for the larger and small traps, respectively. Fecal pellets were the major component of this flux (6 and 60 mgC m^-2d^-1), while phytoplankton contributed 3.2 - 42.9 mgC m^-2d^-1. These are in the same range as fluxes encountered in regions of moderate productivity. Microzooplankton were also an important contributor of C, particularly during the summer of 1994. Combined with the C associated with fecal pellets and dinoflagelates, the vertical flux of attributable C in the GSL is dominated by components of animal origin. The contribution of marine snow was estimated by difference. This appears to be the most import vector of carbon flux but its true importance remains uncertain because of cumulative uncertainties in the estimates of each of the other components.
DE: 1861 Sedimentation (4863)
DE: 4863 Sedimentation (1861)
SC: Ocean Sciences [OS]
MN: 2007 Joint Assembly