Distribuição espacial, origens e associações do carbono em sedimentos da plataforma continental de Sergipe e sul de Alagoas

Abstract

Studies on the Brazilian continental shelf are still undeveloped, especially in the Northeast. In order to characterize the organic matter in marine sediments derived from the continental shelf of Sergipe and Alagoas South, in periods of low and high rainfall, the surface sediments were collected in three bathymetric ranges of 10, 25 and 50 m depth, in total of 82 samples. Corg concentrations ranged from 0.10 to 1.32 % for the sediments of the 1st campaign (SED 1), and 0.17 to 1.45 % for the 2nd campaign (SED 2). For N concentrations ranged from ND to 0.20 % for SED 1 and ND to 0.27 % for SED 2. Already the carbonate content (Cinorg) varied from 4.1 to 97.8 % for SED 1, 4.2 to 90.3 % for SED 2, most of the sediments classified as lithoclastic. Through statistical analysis, it was found that there are not significant differences between the two campaigns, without thereby influence of seasonality. The textural characteristics of the sediments obtained by sieve analysis revealed a predominance of silt sediments that are influenced river. Regarding the source of organic matter, most of the sediments comprising the shelf of Sergipe had ratios C/N less than 6.6 (Redfield ratio), although it was observed that the organic matter is strongly influenced by terrigenous input. The elements Ca, Al, P, Mn, K, Ti and V were measured by EDX technique and used to evaluate the behavior of organic matter. This study is part of a larger project - MARSEAL Project - Environmental Characterization of the Sergipe and Alagoas South, coordinated by CENPES/PETROBRAS.