Accumulation and biological mixing of Peru margin sediments

Rates of sediment accumulation and biological particle mixing in eight cores from the Peru shelf have been estimated by application of uranium-series disequilibrium techniques and radiocarbon dating. Activities of ²¹⁰Pb, ²²⁶Ra, ²³⁴Th and ²³⁸U have been determined in closely spaced intervals in each sediment core. Biological particle mixing coefficients were determined via a two-box advection-diffusion steady-state mixing model based on the distribution profiles of excess ²¹⁰Pb and, in some cases, excess ²³⁴Th activities.

The sedimentation rates estimated were in the order of a few millimeters/yr except for cores enriched in phosphatic components which displayed rates a few orders of magnitude slower. Bioturbation was significant in most cores studied with the exception of one core collected from within the middle of the oxygen-minimum zone. Estimated biological mixing coefficients were in the order of 10⁰–10¹ cm² yr^?1 for the surface mixed layer and 10^?1–10⁰ cm² yr^?1 for the layer below. Sediment slumping appears to have affected the ²¹⁰Pb distribution of two or three of our cores.