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Rates of Benthic Mixing in Deep-Sea Sediment as Determined by Radioactive Tracers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

T.-H. Peng ,
W.S. Broecker  and
W.H. Berger
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Abstract

A series of closely spaced radiocarbon measurements on a carbonate-rich box core from the western equatorial Pacific show a mixed layer at least 7 cm thick, with 14C ages between 4000 and 5000 years, and an orderly progression of ages below this layer, indicating an average sedimentation rate of about 2 cm/103 yr. The profile can be simulated using a numerical extension of the mixing model of Guinasso and Schink (1975)and a numerical exponential mixing model. The best-fit iteration indicates an apparent mixing coefficient of K = 120 cm2/103 yr which also fits well the excess 210Pb distribution. The best-fit also indicates that a small amount of sediment was lost on the top, and that there was a reduction in sedimentation rate within the early Holocene.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 11 , Issue 1 , January 1979 , pp. 141 - 149
Copyright
University of Washington

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