An understanding of the potential sources and transformations of OC throughout the linked terrestrial and marine components of S2S systems provides a rich foundation for interpreting stratigraphic records of past environments and environmental change. Several studies, for example, have examined organic carbon buried in MRK 560 and Holocene sediments of the Amazon Fan and have provided evidence for the effects of distinctive sediment and carbon transport pathways during different stands of sea level (Go?i, 1997, Keil et al., 1997, Ruttenberg and Go?i, 1997, Kastner and Go?i, 2003 and Boot et al., 2006). Low carbon burial efficiencies characterize sediments deposited on the Amazon Fan during interglacial sea-level highstands, suggesting conditions similar to those in the present in system, where low burial efficiencies of terrestrial organic matter are related to continual resuspension of fluid muds on the broad shelf and slow rates of sediment accumulation on the fan. In contrast, greater burial efficiency of terrestrial OC has characterized times of glaciation and sea-level lowstand when there was a more direct path from the Amazon River to the fan, similar to conditions observed on the present-day Bengal Fan.
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