Speaker: Miguel A. Goni, PhD, CEOAS Oceanography Professor

Title: Organic Carbon Burial along Ocean Margins: Revisiting the Umpqua Mid-Shelf Depocenter

Topic: Continental margin sediments are key sites of organic carbon (OC) burial and long-term sequestration of carbon dioxide at climate-relevant timescales. Within ocean margins, shelf depocenters, which are characterized by moderate to high sediment loads, relatively small estuaries, and intermediate to high wave energies, are some of the most abundant depositional environments along continental margins worldwide. Despite their importance, there are considerable knowledge gaps regarding the temporal and spatial variability in the rates of sediment accumulation and OC sequestration due to climate-change factors and direct human impacts. In this presentation I explore these knowledge gaps by presenting our study of a mid-shelf depocenter off the Umpqua River along the central Oregon coast and describing our on-going and future efforts to evaluate its changes in its spatial and compositional characteristics over the last two decades. Specifically, I report on the rich dataset from ca. 70 cores collected in 2009 and describe our plans to evaluate impacts of changes in fluvial sediment supply, wave-energy, bottom water hypoxia, and groundfish trawling on OC burial. The shelf region along the central Oregon coasts is an ideal environment within which to carry this study because it is representative of many marine sediment dispersal/depositional systems worldwide.

COOKIE & COFFEE SOCIAL: 3-3:30 p.m., Food or drink is not allowed in the auditorium, so there will be a cookie and coffee social in the GVMSB atrium before the talk- just bring your own mug (no paper cups will be provided).

HYBRID FORMAT: The speaker will be onsite with in-person and online viewing options- everyone is welcome. No registration required.