Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Permeable Coral Reef Sediment Dissolution Driven By Elevated Pco2 And Pore Water Advection, Tyler Cyronak, Isaac R. Santos, Bradley D. Eyre

Tyler Cyronak

Ocean acidification (OA) is expected to drive the transition of coral reef ecosystems from net calcium carbonate (CaCO₃) precipitating to net dissolving within the next century. Although permeable sediments represent the largest reservoir of CaCO₃ in coral reefs, the dissolution of shallow CaCO₃ sands under future pCO₂ levels has not been measured under natural conditions. In situ, advective chamber incubations under elevated pCO₂ (~800 µatm) shifted the sediments from net precipitating to net dissolving. Pore water advection more than doubled dissolution rates (1.10 g CaCO₃ m⁻² d⁻¹) when compared to …