Marine anoxia initiates giant sulfur-bacteria mat proliferation and associated changes in benthic nitrogen, sulfur, and iron cycling in the Santa Barbara Basin, California Borderland

Abstract. The Santa Barbara Basin naturally experiences transient deoxygenation due to its unique geological setting in the Southern California Borderland and seasonal changes in ocean currents. Long-term measurements of the basin showed that anoxic events and subsequent nitrate exhaustion in the bottom waters have been occurring more frequently and lasting longer over the past decade. One characteristic of the Santa Barbara Basin is the seasonal development of extensive mats of benthic nitrate-reducing sulfur-oxidizing bacteria, which are found at the sediment-water interface when the basin’s bottom waters reach anoxia but still provide some nitrate. To assess the mat’s impact on the benthic and pelagic redox environment, we collected biogeochemical sediment and benthic flux data in November 2019, after anoxia developed in the deepest waters of the basin and dissolved nitrate was depleted (down to 9.9 µM). We found that the presence of mats was associated with a shift from denitrification to dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium. The zone of sulfate reduction appeared near the sediment-water interface in sediment hosting these ephemeral white mats, but that alone seems insufficient to spur their growth. We found that a high sediment TOC content (>5 %) and an exhaustion of iron oxides in the surface sediment were additional prerequisites for mat proliferation. Our research further suggests that cycles of deoxygenation and reoxygenation of the benthic environment result in extremely high benthic fluxes of dissolved iron from the basin’s sediment. This work expands our understanding of nitrate-reducing sulfur-oxidizing mats and their role in sustaining and potentially expanding marine anoxia.