The microbial mediated organic carbon decomposition in aquatic environments is essentially a sequence of redox reactions involving a suite of terminal electron acceptors in the order of their free energy release. Most of these redox reactions involve the production or consumption of proton, thus often creating extremely high or low pH levels.  On the other hand, such extreme pH values also influence the rates of important redox reactions that play critical roles in the planet's carbon cycles. In aquatic sediments, such pH and redox potential extremes are often compressed to a very small distance.  I will discuss the coupling between proton- and electron-transfer reactions using data collected by pH and redox microelectrodes from lake and marine sediments. I will also discuss such coupling and possible interactions between them in a global ocean carbon cycling context and the implications for the current ocean acidification research.

Carbon cycling and the coupling between proton- and electron-transfer reactions in aquatic environments

245th National Meeting (2013)

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