Work Package III

Fluxes and Processes in Nepheloid Layers and Surface Sediments

The main objective of Work Package III (WP III) is to contribute to the understanding, quantification and modelling of the benthic fluxes, pathways and processes involved in the cycle of carbon and associated elements at the Iberian ocean margin.

The data and results of the benthic studies in WP III will be used as input to, and as a means to verify and to validate physical, diagenetic and ecological models of shelf-slope-margin exchange processes and fluxes. Eventually, after integration with WP I and II, these benthic studies will serve to evaluate the budget of carbon exchanges between the ocean and the coastal zone in response to environmental change.

Results obtained and models developed for the upwelling-dominated, narrow Iberian margin will be compared and integrated with those attained for other continental margins such as the Goban Spur margin, characterised by a broad shelf (see OMEX I), the Mediterranean margin (Gulf of Lions) and the Middle Atlantic Bight.

Updated : 11 September 2003,  Feedback :

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