Budget and Fluxes of Particulate Organic Carbon and Nitrogen According to the Data on Their Vertical Distribution in the Deep Part of the Black Sea

On the basis of the analysis of the many-year data on the vertical distributions of particulate organic carbon and nitrogen, we compute their annual average amounts for three typical layers of water in the deep part of the Black Sea: for a layer located above the oxycline and characterized by the formation of new portions of particulate organic matter in the course of photosynthesis, inside the oxycline, where the major part of oxygen is consumed and the major part of the flux of particulate organic matter is oxidized, and for the upper part of the anoxic zone characterized by the most active microbiological processes of oxidation of the organic substances and production of sulfides. The available literature data on sedimentation traps are used to study the downward annual average fluxes of particulate organic matter from the euphotic zone into the oxycline and into the anaerobic zone. The seasonal variability of the amounts and fluxes of particulate carbon and nitrogen is revealed.