Toward the Ultrasonic Sensing of Organic Carbon in Seagrass-Bearing Sediments

Authors

Gabriel R. Venegas, University of Texas at Austin
Abdullah Rahman, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
Kevin M. Lee, University of Texas at Austin
Megan S. Ballard, University of Texas at Austin
Preston S. Wilson, University of Texas at Austin

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

5-16-2019

Abstract

Ten percent of all organic carbon (Corg) absorbed by the ocean each year is stored in seagrass-bearing sediments. The preservation of these carbon stores is considered a vital method to mitigate climate change. Seagrass-bearing sediments have been correlated with sediment geophysical properties yet have not been related to sediment acoustic properties. For this purpose, sediment cores were collected from a Thalassia testudinum seagrass meadow in South Texas, USA, where geophysical, acoustical, and Corg properties were measured. It is hypothesized that when deposits of Corg adsorb onto mineral surfaces and are stored in pore spaces, compliant layers between grain contacts and the formation of an organic-rich suspension reduce sediment stiffness. Results from this seagrass meadow demonstrated a strong correlation between sediment P wave modulus and Corg and show promise toward the development of an in situ ultrasonic sediment probe to more rapidly quantify and monitor seagrass carbon stores.

Comments

©2019, American Geophysical Union. Original published version available at https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL082745

Recommended Citation

Venegas, G. R., A. F. Rahman, K. M. Lee, M. S. Ballard, and P. S. Wilson. 2019. “Toward the Ultrasonic Sensing of Organic Carbon in Seagrass-Bearing Sediments.” Geophysical Research Letters 46 (11): 5968–77. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL082745.

First Page

5968

Last Page

5977

Publication Title

Geophysical Research Letters

DOI

10.1029/2019GL082745