Benthic oxygen flux, bottom water oxygen concentration and core top organic carbon content in the deep northeast Pacific Ocean

A general and quantitative correlation between benthic oxygen flux (FO2, μmol cm−2 yr−1), bottom water oxygen concentration ([O2]BW, μmol kg−1), and core top organic carbon content (Corg, %) has been derived from existing data from the deep northeast Pacific Ocean: FO2 = φCorg[O2]BW(126+[O2]BW) where π = 44.4 has the units of μmol cm−2 yr−1 (% dry organic C)−1 . Environments described by this equation include suboxic basins, the continental slope, the continental rise, and oxic open ocean sediments. This relationship and the data set it represents show that FO2 increases with the increase of [O2]BW away from the continental slope and borderlands and then decreases with the decrease of Corg from the continental rise towards the open ocean. The reaction rate constant for aerobic respiration estimated from the above equation ranges from 5 × 10 11−1 in sediments from the open ocean to 5 × 10−9 s−1 in sediments from continental slopes. With this equation, FO2 values may also be predicted for other areas of the World Ocean, and such predictions agree with recent measurements in the Atlantic Ocean. The existence of this broad-based relationship indicates that benthic oxygen consumption rate in the deep ocean is controlled by the availability of both organic carbon and oxygen.