Biogeochemical implication of massive episodic flood deposition:
Model-Data integration
Abstract
Coastal deltas are depocenter for materials transported from riverine
channels. Under regime of extreme flood events, this zone can experience
large sediment deposition within a short period. However, the
biogeochemical consequences of such disturbances on the carbon and other
element cycles are not fully understood. Using a coupled data-model
approach, we explore the early diagenesis responses of coastal sediment
influenced by two intense flood discharges (in spring and fall) by the
Rhône river in 2008. The data set shows that biogeochemical fluxes and
rates responded abruptly to this almost instantaneous change in sediment
deposition. These flood-related depositions increased organic carbon
mineralization by a factor of 2 to 6 compared to pre-flood levels,
previously dominated by sulfate reduction (72%), and methanogenesis
(8%). The two floods represented (organic-poor in spring and
organic-rich in fall) cause different responses of the diagenetic system
in terms of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) fluxes - the organic-poor
flood deposition induced a large storage of DIC in porewaters, whereas
the organic-rich induced a large efflux of DIC along the entire
relaxation. The model reveals that intense redox cycling and mineral
precipitation were responsible for the non-euxinic (sulfide-free)
sediment after flood deposition. The sequential flood depositions reveal
a temporary memory effect (i.e. an interaction between two successive
floods), with stronger effect for methane (44%), whose relatively long
relaxation timescale limits complete recovery before the next event 6
months after the first one. Increasing frequency and intensity of these
events could lead to memory accumulation of flood biogeochemical
signature.