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Organic Carbon Burial Rates in Muddy Temperate Shelf Sea Sediments

HANNAH MUIR, David G. Reading Orcid Logo, Phillip E. Warwick, James A. Strong Orcid Logo, Kate Peel Orcid Logo, Rowan Henthorn, Jacqui Keenan, Peter F. Duncan, Jan G. Hiddink Orcid Logo, Martin W. Skov Orcid Logo, Richard Unsworth Orcid Logo, Claire Evans Orcid Logo

Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, Volume: 131, Issue: 3

Swansea University Authors: HANNAH MUIR, Richard Unsworth Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.1029/2025jg009168

Abstract

Muddy continental shelf sediments act as important sinks for atmospheric CO2 by accumulating organic matter, a small fraction of which is buried and stored as organic carbon (OC) over long timescales. Quantifying long-term OC burial in shelf sediments is critical for understanding their role in clim...

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Published in: Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences
ISSN: 2169-8953 2169-8961
Published: American Geophysical Union (AGU) 2026
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa71642
first_indexed 2026-03-19T11:14:18Z
last_indexed 2026-04-28T04:31:33Z
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Quantifying long-term OC burial in shelf sediments is critical for understanding their role in climate regulation; however, this remains difficult due to limited age-resolved data and the challenges of determining sediment accumulation rates and temporal changes in OC content. To address this, we quantified age-resolved OC storage over the past two centuries in the upper 50 cm of the Western Irish Sea Mud Belt (WISMB) by measuring depth-resolved OC content and sediment accumulation rates. The OC content (0.15%&#x2013;1.62%), OC storage (1.30&#x2013;15.15 gC cm&#x2212;3), and sediment accumulation rates (0.26&#x2013;0.37 cm yr&#x2212;1) vary both spatially and temporally, with the highest OC accumulation and burial occurring in muddier, deeper-water sediments. 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spelling 2026-04-27T16:07:47.7879226 v2 71642 2026-03-19 Organic Carbon Burial Rates in Muddy Temperate Shelf Sea Sediments 68aea1722c5f41c388bfcd10ec67fd9b HANNAH MUIR HANNAH MUIR true false b0f33acd13a3ab541cf2aaea27f4fc2f 0000-0003-0036-9724 Richard Unsworth Richard Unsworth true false 2026-03-19 Muddy continental shelf sediments act as important sinks for atmospheric CO2 by accumulating organic matter, a small fraction of which is buried and stored as organic carbon (OC) over long timescales. Quantifying long-term OC burial in shelf sediments is critical for understanding their role in climate regulation; however, this remains difficult due to limited age-resolved data and the challenges of determining sediment accumulation rates and temporal changes in OC content. To address this, we quantified age-resolved OC storage over the past two centuries in the upper 50 cm of the Western Irish Sea Mud Belt (WISMB) by measuring depth-resolved OC content and sediment accumulation rates. The OC content (0.15%–1.62%), OC storage (1.30–15.15 gC cm−3), and sediment accumulation rates (0.26–0.37 cm yr−1) vary both spatially and temporally, with the highest OC accumulation and burial occurring in muddier, deeper-water sediments. Between 53% and 91% of the OC accumulated in the surface 2 cm over the past 8 years (17.09–39.47 gC m−2 yr−1), and 60%–68% of the OC accumulated in the upper 10 cm over the past 38 years (21.90–51.13 gC m−2 yr−1), remains buried for more than 100 years (14.03–33.50 gC m−2 yr−1). These rates are comparable to those reported for other muddy continental shelf regions, including mud patches, coastal fjords, and glacial troughs. Journal Article Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences 131 3 American Geophysical Union (AGU) 2169-8953 2169-8961 continental shelves; carbon burial 21 3 2026 2026-03-21 10.1029/2025jg009168 COLLEGE NANME COLLEGE CODE Swansea University SU Library paid the OA fee (TA Institutional Deal) Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture (DEFA), Isle of Man Government. 2026-04-27T16:07:47.7879226 2026-03-19T11:12:14.4776758 Faculty of Science and Engineering School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences HANNAH MUIR 1 David G. Reading 0000-0002-6697-8525 2 Phillip E. Warwick 3 James A. Strong 0000-0001-8603-097x 4 Kate Peel 0000-0002-2701-466x 5 Rowan Henthorn 6 Jacqui Keenan 7 Peter F. Duncan 8 Jan G. Hiddink 0000-0001-7114-830x 9 Martin W. Skov 0000-0002-7204-3865 10 Richard Unsworth 0000-0003-0036-9724 11 Claire Evans 0000-0003-0569-7057 12 71642__36617__b5957c9eac2341079d32e7486a3747c0.pdf 71642.VoR.pdf 2026-04-27T16:04:47.9630916 Output 1030440 application/pdf Version of Record true © 2026. The Author(s). This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. true eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title Organic Carbon Burial Rates in Muddy Temperate Shelf Sea Sediments
spellingShingle Organic Carbon Burial Rates in Muddy Temperate Shelf Sea Sediments
HANNAH MUIR
Richard Unsworth
title_short Organic Carbon Burial Rates in Muddy Temperate Shelf Sea Sediments
title_full Organic Carbon Burial Rates in Muddy Temperate Shelf Sea Sediments
title_fullStr Organic Carbon Burial Rates in Muddy Temperate Shelf Sea Sediments
title_full_unstemmed Organic Carbon Burial Rates in Muddy Temperate Shelf Sea Sediments
title_sort Organic Carbon Burial Rates in Muddy Temperate Shelf Sea Sediments
author_id_str_mv 68aea1722c5f41c388bfcd10ec67fd9b
b0f33acd13a3ab541cf2aaea27f4fc2f
author_id_fullname_str_mv 68aea1722c5f41c388bfcd10ec67fd9b_***_HANNAH MUIR
b0f33acd13a3ab541cf2aaea27f4fc2f_***_Richard Unsworth
author HANNAH MUIR
Richard Unsworth
author2 HANNAH MUIR
David G. Reading
Phillip E. Warwick
James A. Strong
Kate Peel
Rowan Henthorn
Jacqui Keenan
Peter F. Duncan
Jan G. Hiddink
Martin W. Skov
Richard Unsworth
Claire Evans
format Journal article
container_title Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences
container_volume 131
container_issue 3
publishDate 2026
institution Swansea University
issn 2169-8953
2169-8961
doi_str_mv 10.1029/2025jg009168
publisher American Geophysical Union (AGU)
college_str Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchytype
hierarchy_top_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
department_str School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Science and Engineering{{{_:::_}}}School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences
document_store_str 1
active_str 0
description Muddy continental shelf sediments act as important sinks for atmospheric CO2 by accumulating organic matter, a small fraction of which is buried and stored as organic carbon (OC) over long timescales. Quantifying long-term OC burial in shelf sediments is critical for understanding their role in climate regulation; however, this remains difficult due to limited age-resolved data and the challenges of determining sediment accumulation rates and temporal changes in OC content. To address this, we quantified age-resolved OC storage over the past two centuries in the upper 50 cm of the Western Irish Sea Mud Belt (WISMB) by measuring depth-resolved OC content and sediment accumulation rates. The OC content (0.15%–1.62%), OC storage (1.30–15.15 gC cm−3), and sediment accumulation rates (0.26–0.37 cm yr−1) vary both spatially and temporally, with the highest OC accumulation and burial occurring in muddier, deeper-water sediments. Between 53% and 91% of the OC accumulated in the surface 2 cm over the past 8 years (17.09–39.47 gC m−2 yr−1), and 60%–68% of the OC accumulated in the upper 10 cm over the past 38 years (21.90–51.13 gC m−2 yr−1), remains buried for more than 100 years (14.03–33.50 gC m−2 yr−1). These rates are comparable to those reported for other muddy continental shelf regions, including mud patches, coastal fjords, and glacial troughs.
published_date 2026-03-21T06:29:33Z
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