Raw data for black carbon and organic carbon in sediments from six hadal trenches

Although anthropogenic activities and wildfires have led to ubiquitous distribution of black carbon (BC) in environments, it has never been reported for sediments in the hadal zone, the deepest oceans with water depths > 6000 m. Here, we measured the concentration, δ13C and Δ14C signatures of BC and total organic carbon (TOC) in sediments from six geographically widely distributed trenches. Extrapolation from target trenches to the global hadal zone yields BC burial rate of 1.0±0.5 Tg yr-1 that is greater than previous estimate for the deep sea by 70%. We thus propose that the hadal zone is an important but previously unrecognized BC sink in the ocean.