Abstract:
The tropical Pacific seafloor hosts abundant polymetallic minerals and the environmental of deep-sea mining has attracted widespread attention. Investigating bioturbation in this region and its influence on organic carbon transportation to deeper sediments can enhance our quantitative understanding of material flux and ecological dynamics deep-sea benthic ecosystems. Additionally it provides baseline parameters for accessing the environmental impacts of deep sea mining activities. Radioactivity levels of
210Pb and
226Ra were measured to evaluate the bioturbation coefficients (
DB) and mixing depths (
L) in six sediment cores from intermountain basin area of the tropical northwest Pacific, the East Pacific polymetallic nodule zone, and the 10°N area of the central east Pacific (approximately
5000 m depth).
DB values in the studied cores were estimated with a steady-state diffusion mode and varied over a wide range from 11.55 to 81.52 cm
2/a with an average of (40.53±4.72) cm
2/a, while
L values ranged from 19.30 to 51.28 cm, with an average of (36.16±0.07) cm, both exceeding global averages. Such wide variability of
DB and
L values is mainly attributed to the uneven distribution of macrobenthos. In three of these cores, the excess
210Pb (
210Pb
ex) shows a linear positive correlation with the total organic carbon (TOC) content. Thus, a one-dimensional model for the transport of TOC from the surface layer of sediments to the deep layers was established. The TOC flux transmitted downward by bioturbation varied between 0.09 and 1.14 mmol/(cm
2·a).