Removal of dissolved organic carbon in the West Pacific hadal zones
The deep oceans are environments of complex carbon dynamics that have the potential to significantly impact the global carbon cycle. However, the role of hadal zones, particularly hadal trenches (water depth > 6 km), in the oceanic dissolved organic carbon (DOC) cycle is not thoroughly investigated. Here we report distinct DOC signatures in the Japan Trench bottom water. We find that up to 34% ± 7% of the DOC in the trench bottom is removed during the northeastward transport of dissolved carbon along the trench axis. This DOC removal increases the overall DOC recalcitrance of the deep Pacific DOC pool, and is potentially enhanced by the earthquake-triggered physical and biogeochemical processes in the hadal trenches. Radiocarbon analysis on representative oceanic transects further reveals that the Pacific deep-water DOC undergoes distinct removal compared to those in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans along the thermohaline transport. Our findings highlight hadal trenches as previously unrecognized DOC sinks in the deep ocean system, with varying dynamics that warrant further investigation.
Authors
- Li Xu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7745-3417)
- Mingzhi Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5842-8307)
- Mengfan Chu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7369-518X)
- Z. Cai (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0297-5293)
- Natascha Riedinger (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6766-0749)
- Ellen R. M. Druffel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7139-1075)
- Yang Ding (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8437-3565)
- Michael Strasser (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3991-2405)
- Rui Bao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8159-5269)
- Yonghong Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2498-9143)
- Ken Ikehara (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3906-4303)
- E. Troy Rasbury (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0591-4461)
- K. Jitsuno (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9795-8394)
- Min Luo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2856-3951)
- Martin Koelling (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2720-2211)
- Piero Bellanova (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5204-8602)
- Kejian Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4532-1583)
- Cecilia M. McHugh (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6884-0458)
- Christian März (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5439-1292)
Institutions
- Queens College, CUNY (US)
- Oklahoma State University (US)
- University of Leeds (GB)
- University of Bonn (DE)
- Waseda University (JP)
- University of Bremen (DE)
- Universität Innsbruck (AT)
- University of California, Irvine (US)
- Kyoto University (JP)
- Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology (CN)
- Qingdao Institute of Marine Geology (CN)
- Geological Survey of Japan (JP)
- Irvine University (US)
- Shanghai Ocean University (CN)
- Ocean University of China (CN)
- Stony Brook University (US)
- Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (US)
- National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (JP)
- RWTH Aachen University (DE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2025-01-16
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-55883-1
- Citations
- 2
- Primary Topic
- Methane Hydrates and Related Phenomena
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.72
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities