Biogeochemical cycling of iron and phosphorus under low oxygen conditions (B05)

• Subject Area: Oceanography ; Mineralogy, Petrology and Geochemistry
• Term: from 2008 to 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 27542298

The central goal of this subproject is to investigate the effect of bottom water oxygenation on the release of dissolved iron and phosphorus from sediments below oxygen minimum zones. Specifically, it is planned to constrain the threshold values beyond which the decline in dissolved electron acceptors (O2, NO3-, NO2-) drives the release of Fe and P from different sedimentary phases. With this approach and additional field and modelling studies the subproject aims to determine how and to what degree the ongoing and future expansion of OMZs is amplified by positive feedback mechanisms induced by the enhanced release of nutrients from sediments under low oxygen conditions.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 754: Climate - Biogeochemistry Interactions in the Tropical Ocean
• Applicant Institution: Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel
• Co-Applicant Institution: GEOMAR Helmholtz-Zentrum für Ozeanforschung Kiel
• Project Heads: Dr. Christian Hensen; Professor Dr.-Ing. Klaus Wallmann