EGU25-16678, updated on 15 Mar 2025
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-16678
EGU General Assembly 2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Carbon burial at the North Sea-North Atlantic gateway over the past 14,000 years
Cecile Hilgen1, Rick Hennekam2, Marcel van der Meer3, Gert-Jan Reichart1,2, and Francesca Sangiorgi1
Cecile Hilgen et al.
  • 1Department of Earth Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands (c.s.hilgen@uu.nl)
  • 2Department of Ocean Systems, NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, 't Horntje (Texel), Netherlands
  • 3Department of Marine Microbiology and Biogeochemistry, NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, 't Horntje (Texel), Netherlands

The North Sea, a highly productive shelf sea, may play an important role in the local carbon cycle by exchanging carbon and nutrients with the Atlantic Ocean and facilitating carbon burial in its sediments. However, understanding the response of carbon burial rates to natural and anthropogenic forcings remains limited in this setting. To address this gap, this study examines long-term trends in carbon burial and their natural and anthropogenic drivers at North Sea-North Atlantic gateway over the past 14,000 years. Sediment cores – both piston core and multi-core (61.5687 °N, 3.0465 °E) – were analysed using a multi-proxy approach including X-ray fluorescence (XRF), lipid biomarkers, (compound specific) isotopes, and dinoflagellate cysts to reconstruct climate change, patterns of primary productivity and origin of the carbon. Chronology was established using radiocarbon dating. Carbon burial rates were reconstructed by calibrating the Br/Ti log ratio with TOC measurements, while the productivity of calcium-bearing organisms was inferred from the Ca/Fe log ratio. The highest carbon burial rates of 8 gC/m²/yr are during the Younger Dryas and coincides with cold bottom water temperatures/high global ice volume and reduced productivity. In the Early Holocene, productivity increased, followed by a gradual transgression, reducing sedimentation rates and thereby carbon burial rates to 2 gC/m²/yr. At around 500 years BP, carbon accumulation rates increased again to approximately 5 gC/m²/yr, likely caused by anthropogenic factors such as deforestation and changes in land use.

How to cite: Hilgen, C., Hennekam, R., van der Meer, M., Reichart, G.-J., and Sangiorgi, F.: Carbon burial at the North Sea-North Atlantic gateway over the past 14,000 years, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-16678, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-16678, 2025.