Removal of dissolved organic carbon in the West Pacific hadal zones

Mengfan Chu; Rui Bao; Michael Strasser; Ken Ikehara; Yang Ding; Kejian Liu; Mingzhi Liu; Li Xu; Yonghong Wang; Piero Bellanova; Troy Rasbury; Martin Kölling; Natascha Riedinger; Min Luo; Christian März; Kana Jitsuno; Zhirong Cai; Cecilia McHugh; Ellen Druffel

doi:10.1038/s41467-025-55883-1

Removal of dissolved organic carbon in the West Pacific hadal zones

Mengfan Chu
, Rui Bao
, Michael Strasser
, Ken Ikehara
, Yang Ding
, Kejian Liu
, Mingzhi Liu
, Li Xu
, Yonghong Wang
, Piero Bellanova
, Troy Rasbury
, Martin Kölling
, Natascha Riedinger
, Min Luo
, Christian März
, Kana Jitsuno
, Zhirong Cai
, Cecilia McHugh
, Ellen Druffel

Geosciences

Ocean University of China
Qingdao Marine Science and Technology Center
University of Innsbruck
National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
RWTH Aachen University
University of Bremen
Oklahoma State University
Shanghai Ocean University
University of Leeds
University of Bonn
Waseda University
Kyoto University
City University of New York
University of California at Irvine

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

6 Scopus citations

Abstract

The deep oceans are environments of complex carbon dynamics that have the potential to significantly impact the global carbon cycle. However, the role of hadal zones, particularly hadal trenches (water depth > 6 km), in the oceanic dissolved organic carbon (DOC) cycle is not thoroughly investigated. Here we report distinct DOC signatures in the Japan Trench bottom water. We find that up to 34% ± 7% of the DOC in the trench bottom is removed during the northeastward transport of dissolved carbon along the trench axis. This DOC removal increases the overall DOC recalcitrance of the deep Pacific DOC pool, and is potentially enhanced by the earthquake-triggered physical and biogeochemical processes in the hadal trenches. Radiocarbon analysis on representative oceanic transects further reveals that the Pacific deep-water DOC undergoes distinct removal compared to those in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans along the thermohaline transport. Our findings highlight hadal trenches as previously unrecognized DOC sinks in the deep ocean system, with varying dynamics that warrant further investigation.

Original language	English
Article number	733
Journal	Nature Communications
Volume	16
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-55883-1
State	Published - Dec 2025

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Chu, M., Bao, R., Strasser, M., Ikehara, K., Ding, Y., Liu, K., Liu, M., Xu, L., Wang, Y., Bellanova, P., Rasbury, T., Kölling, M., Riedinger, N., Luo, M., März, C., Jitsuno, K., Cai, Z., McHugh, C., & Druffel, E. (2025). Removal of dissolved organic carbon in the West Pacific hadal zones. Nature Communications, 16(1), Article 733. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-55883-1

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title = "Removal of dissolved organic carbon in the West Pacific hadal zones",

abstract = "The deep oceans are environments of complex carbon dynamics that have the potential to significantly impact the global carbon cycle. However, the role of hadal zones, particularly hadal trenches (water depth > 6 km), in the oceanic dissolved organic carbon (DOC) cycle is not thoroughly investigated. Here we report distinct DOC signatures in the Japan Trench bottom water. We find that up to 34\% ± 7\% of the DOC in the trench bottom is removed during the northeastward transport of dissolved carbon along the trench axis. This DOC removal increases the overall DOC recalcitrance of the deep Pacific DOC pool, and is potentially enhanced by the earthquake-triggered physical and biogeochemical processes in the hadal trenches. Radiocarbon analysis on representative oceanic transects further reveals that the Pacific deep-water DOC undergoes distinct removal compared to those in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans along the thermohaline transport. Our findings highlight hadal trenches as previously unrecognized DOC sinks in the deep ocean system, with varying dynamics that warrant further investigation.",

author = "Mengfan Chu and Rui Bao and Michael Strasser and Ken Ikehara and Yang Ding and Kejian Liu and Mingzhi Liu and Li Xu and Yonghong Wang and Piero Bellanova and Troy Rasbury and Martin K{\"o}lling and Natascha Riedinger and Min Luo and Christian M{\"a}rz and Kana Jitsuno and Zhirong Cai and Cecilia McHugh and Ellen Druffel",

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AU - Chu, Mengfan

AU - Bao, Rui

AU - Strasser, Michael

AU - Ikehara, Ken

AU - Ding, Yang

AU - Liu, Kejian

AU - Liu, Mingzhi

AU - Xu, Li

AU - Wang, Yonghong

AU - Bellanova, Piero

AU - Rasbury, Troy

AU - Kölling, Martin

AU - Riedinger, Natascha

AU - Luo, Min

AU - März, Christian

AU - Jitsuno, Kana

AU - Cai, Zhirong

AU - McHugh, Cecilia

AU - Druffel, Ellen

PY - 2025/12

Y1 - 2025/12

N2 - The deep oceans are environments of complex carbon dynamics that have the potential to significantly impact the global carbon cycle. However, the role of hadal zones, particularly hadal trenches (water depth > 6 km), in the oceanic dissolved organic carbon (DOC) cycle is not thoroughly investigated. Here we report distinct DOC signatures in the Japan Trench bottom water. We find that up to 34% ± 7% of the DOC in the trench bottom is removed during the northeastward transport of dissolved carbon along the trench axis. This DOC removal increases the overall DOC recalcitrance of the deep Pacific DOC pool, and is potentially enhanced by the earthquake-triggered physical and biogeochemical processes in the hadal trenches. Radiocarbon analysis on representative oceanic transects further reveals that the Pacific deep-water DOC undergoes distinct removal compared to those in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans along the thermohaline transport. Our findings highlight hadal trenches as previously unrecognized DOC sinks in the deep ocean system, with varying dynamics that warrant further investigation.

AB - The deep oceans are environments of complex carbon dynamics that have the potential to significantly impact the global carbon cycle. However, the role of hadal zones, particularly hadal trenches (water depth > 6 km), in the oceanic dissolved organic carbon (DOC) cycle is not thoroughly investigated. Here we report distinct DOC signatures in the Japan Trench bottom water. We find that up to 34% ± 7% of the DOC in the trench bottom is removed during the northeastward transport of dissolved carbon along the trench axis. This DOC removal increases the overall DOC recalcitrance of the deep Pacific DOC pool, and is potentially enhanced by the earthquake-triggered physical and biogeochemical processes in the hadal trenches. Radiocarbon analysis on representative oceanic transects further reveals that the Pacific deep-water DOC undergoes distinct removal compared to those in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans along the thermohaline transport. Our findings highlight hadal trenches as previously unrecognized DOC sinks in the deep ocean system, with varying dynamics that warrant further investigation.

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SN - 2041-1723

VL - 16

JO - Nature Communications

JF - Nature Communications

IS - 1

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ER -

Removal of dissolved organic carbon in the West Pacific hadal zones

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