Sedimentary Nitrate Respiration Potentially Offsets the Climatic Benefits From CO2 Uptake by Marginal Seas

Ehui Tan; Xiuli Yan; Moge Du; Bin Chen; Yongkai Chang; Wenbin Zou; Liwei Zheng; Jack J. Middelburg; Xianhui Wan; Zhixiong Huang; Zhenzhen Zheng; Min Xu; Huade Zhao; Yu Han; Shuh Ji Kao

doi:10.1029/2024GL112790

Sedimentary Nitrate Respiration Potentially Offsets the Climatic Benefits From CO₂ Uptake by Marginal Seas

Ehui Tan^*, Xiuli Yan, Moge Du, Bin Chen, Yongkai Chang, Wenbin Zou, Liwei Zheng, Jack J. Middelburg, Xianhui Wan, Zhixiong Huang, Zhenzhen Zheng, Min Xu, Huade Zhao, Yu Han, Shuh Ji Kao^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Sediment nitrate respiration eliminates reactive nitrogen (Nr) and consumes organic carbon (OC) accompanying by CO₂ and N₂O production to partially neutralize the climate benefit of sedimentary carbon burial. The quantitative linkage between carbon and nitrogen stoichiometry and greenhouse potential of this syndepositional process, particularly at a marginal sea scale, remains unexplored. Here we show that temperature and organic matter co-regulate the sediment nitrate respiration and associated N₂O production in China's marginal seas. By establishing empirical equations, we access that 2.8 ± 0.4 Tg Nr (∼26.5% of riverine input) is annually respired via degrading 2.2 ± 0.2 Tg OC (∼12.5% of OC deposited) to produce 15.0 ± 3.5 Gg N₂O-N, which may counter-balance 15.1 ± 8.1% of the air-sea CO₂ influx. This link between anthropogenic Nr input and removal to carbon sequestration reveals that sedimentary nitrate respiration potentially reduces the climatic benefits of marginal seas.

Original language	English
Article number	e2024GL112790
Journal	Geophysical Research Letters
Volume	52
Issue number	6
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GL112790
Publication status	Published - 28 Mar 2025

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2025 The Author(s).

Funding

Special acknowledgment to intensive field and laboratory works by Li Tian, Jicong Xu, Ling Chen. This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China project (#92251306, #42276043, #42306120 and # 42176046). Hainan Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (#623RC456). Innovational Fund for Scientific and Technological Personnel of Hainan Province (#KJRC2023B04). Collaborative Innovation Center of Marine Science and Technology in Hainan University (#XTCX2022HYC19).

Funders	Funder number
National Natural Science Foundation of China	92251306, 42276043, 42306120, 42176046
National Natural Science Foundation of China project	623RC456
Hainan Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China	KJRC2023B04
Innovational Fund for Scientific and Technological Personnel of Hainan Province	XTCX2022HYC19
Collaborative Innovation Center of Marine Science and Technology in Hainan University

Keywords

carbon sink
denitrification
marginal seas
NO emission
sediment

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1029/2024GL112790Licence: CC BY-NC

Geophysical Research Letters - 2025 - Tan - Sedimentary Nitrate Respiration Potentially Offsets the Climatic Benefits FromFinal published version, 2.04 MBLicence: CC BY-NC

Cite this

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title = "Sedimentary Nitrate Respiration Potentially Offsets the Climatic Benefits From CO2 Uptake by Marginal Seas",

abstract = "Sediment nitrate respiration eliminates reactive nitrogen (Nr) and consumes organic carbon (OC) accompanying by CO2 and N2O production to partially neutralize the climate benefit of sedimentary carbon burial. The quantitative linkage between carbon and nitrogen stoichiometry and greenhouse potential of this syndepositional process, particularly at a marginal sea scale, remains unexplored. Here we show that temperature and organic matter co-regulate the sediment nitrate respiration and associated N2O production in China's marginal seas. By establishing empirical equations, we access that 2.8 ± 0.4 Tg Nr (∼26.5% of riverine input) is annually respired via degrading 2.2 ± 0.2 Tg OC (∼12.5% of OC deposited) to produce 15.0 ± 3.5 Gg N2O-N, which may counter-balance 15.1 ± 8.1% of the air-sea CO2 influx. This link between anthropogenic Nr input and removal to carbon sequestration reveals that sedimentary nitrate respiration potentially reduces the climatic benefits of marginal seas.",

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AU - Tan, Ehui

AU - Yan, Xiuli

AU - Du, Moge

AU - Chen, Bin

AU - Chang, Yongkai

AU - Zou, Wenbin

AU - Zheng, Liwei

AU - Middelburg, Jack J.

AU - Wan, Xianhui

AU - Huang, Zhixiong

AU - Zheng, Zhenzhen

AU - Xu, Min

AU - Zhao, Huade

AU - Han, Yu

AU - Kao, Shuh Ji

PY - 2025/3/28

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