Date

2017-3-18

Author

Ermiş, Esra

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The biogeochemical cycling of iron (Fe) can play a potentially important role in the oligotrophic Mediterranean Sea. This importance stems from: (i) iron is an essential micronutrient for the new production, and (ii) it is associated with other essential redox-sensitive elements including carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and trace metals. Organic carbon burial in seafloor promotes the formation of gradients of iron and manganese species due to their role as electron acceptor for microbial respiration. The fraction of Fe and Mn species that is readily available for microbes is referred as reactive Fe and Mn, which comprise various labile forms of oxyhyroxides that could be extracted by a citrate-buffered dithionite solution. This thesis reports the first geochemical distribution of reactive iron and manganese, accompanied by other total metal distributions and their reactive-total partitioning in 25 surface sediment samples taken from four transects in Mersin Bay from Seyhan River to the Aydıncık. The coastal samples are taken from 10-100 m depth of a transect affected mainly by Seyhan and Berdan rivers in the Mersin Bay, and two transects along Göksu River. The deep-seafloor samples are obtained from a depth between 100-500 m in two transects offshore Erdemli and Göksu. The reactive iron in Cilician basin surface sediments is diversely distributed. Reactive iron enrichment decreases with depth whereas Mn enrichment significantly increases towards the open sea. FeR has significant correlation with organic carbon in Aydıncık transect. There is significant positive correlation between organic carbon and % mud fraction in Aydıncık transect. Each transect differs in biogeochemical properties of seawater and seafloor. The spatial biogeochemical gradient from coastal to deep seafloor could be seen more clear in Aydıncık and Göksu transects, hinting at coast to offshore transport of riverine reactive iron and manganese.

Subject Keywords

seafloor iron biogeochemistry, reactive iron, reactive manganese, organic carbon, trace metals, Cilician Basin, seafloor microbial activity

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/95098

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Graduate School of Marine Sciences, Thesis