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Microbial Fe(Iii) Reduction As A Potential Iron Source From Holocene Sediments Beneath Larsen Ice Shelf, Jaewoo Jung, Kyu-Cheul Yoo, Brad E. Rosenheim, Tim M. Conway, Jae Il Lee, Ho Il Yoon, Chung Yeon Hwang, Kiho Yang, Christina Subt, Jinwook Kim

Marine Science Faculty Publications

Recent recession of the Larsen Ice Shelf C has revealed microbial alterations of illite in marine sediments, a process typically thought to occur during low-grade metamorphism. In situ breakdown of illite provides a previously-unobserved pathway for the release of dissolved Fe²⁺ to porewaters, thus enhancing clay-rich Antarctic sub-ice shelf sediments as an important source of Fe to Fe-limited surface Southern Ocean waters during ice shelf retreat after the Last Glacial Maximum. When sediments are underneath the ice shelf, Fe²⁺ from microbial reductive dissolution of illite/Fe-oxides may be exported to the water column. However, the initiation of an oxygenated, …