Two-dimensional carbon and nutrient processes in mangrove sediments

Home laboratory: Laboratory of Marine Biogeochemistry, Federal University of Fluminense (UFF), Brazil

Host laboratory: Laboratory of Planetology and Geosciences (LPG), France
 

Duration: September 2–October 26, 2024

Mangroves are coastal ecosystems that play an important role in the cycling of carbon and associated nutrients and that help limit eutrophication. Indeed, they have high levels of biological productivity, remineralisation, and carbon storage. That said, we still do not fully understand how often these elements are remobilised in intertidal areas, moving from sediments to interstitial waters to supernatant waters. This mobility project will thus characterise the diagenetic processes involved in the ability of mangrove sediments to act as sinks for carbon, sulphides, ammonium, nitrite, nitrate, and iron. In this vein, it will assess the likelihood that stored organic matter will be further degraded or better preserved under the contrasting conditions found along tropical coasts.