Molecular and isotopic insights into particulate organic carbon sources and dynamics in Jordan Basin, Gulf of Maine

•A >50 m-thick BNL was present in the Jordan Basin at the time of sampling.•Up to 82% of suspended POC in the BNL was from sediment resuspension.•Fatty acids composition indicates heterotrophic modification of OM in the upper BNL.•In contrast heterotrophic modification of OM was not significant at bottom of BNL.•Biomarker results suggest zonation of biological activity within the BNL.

The carbon isotope and lipid biomarker composition of suspended particles and surface sediment was measured to examine the impact of sediment supply, redistribution and post-depositional alteration processes on organic matter cycling in the Gulf of Maine, a semi-enclosed shelf sea in the northwest Atlantic. A beam attenuation profile revealed a >50 m-thick benthic nepheloid layer (BNL) in the Jordan Basin at the time of sampling (April 2006). The relatively low radiocarbon content of suspended particulate organic carbon (POC) in the BNL indicates that up to 82% of the POC in this layer was supplied from resuspension of sediment. The concentration of alkenones normalized to POC increased with increasing depth in the water column and was highest in the surface sediment. In contrast to these markers of surface ocean photoautotrophy, the vertical profiles for the concentration and composition of short-chain (C14–C18) n-alkanoic acids provided evidence for enhanced heterotrophic processes near the top of the BNL. Suspended POC samples from two depths within the BNL exhibited marked differences in radiocarbon content and fatty acid composition, suggesting that biological activity and associated processes within the BNL are vertically heterogeneous.