Neogene burial of organic carbon in the global ocean

The global rate of OC burial is conventionally established by using the mass balance between inorganic and organic carbon, each with distinct isotopic values (δ¹³C). However, this method is complicated by major uncertainties associated with some key parameters. Here we report a “bottom up” approach independent from mass balance calculations, by using data from 81 globally distributed IODP/ODP/DSDP sites covering all major ocean basins and sedimentary environments, to establish regional and global history of OC burial over the Neogene (~23 – 3 million years ago). Our results show large spatiotemporal variability of OC burial, suggesting that it plays a much more important role in regulating the carbon cycle than previously thought. Globally, the burial was higher towards the early Miocene and Pliocene, but lowest during the mid-Miocene.The enriched carbonate δ¹³C during the mid-Miocene is more likely related to shifts to a volcanic-dominated source of carbon into the Earth’s surficial system,which turns the interpretation of OC burial during the Miocene on its head and demands a reconsideration of the Monterey Hypothesis and the necessity to rethink some of the fundamentals of the global carbon cycle. This dataset contains the calculation process of global organic carbon burial fluxes over the Neogene (23.0-2.6 Ma) period. The mass accumulation rates (MARs) of organic carbon (OC) were calculated for each site based on sedimentation rate, bulk density, and TOC%, and were used to determine the spatial and temporal variability of OC burial in the Neogene.