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<front>
<journal-meta>
<journal-id journal-id-type="publisher">EGUsphere</journal-id>
<journal-title-group>
<journal-title>EGUsphere</journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="publisher">EGUsphere</abbrev-journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="nlm-ta">EGUsphere</abbrev-journal-title>
</journal-title-group>
<issn pub-type="epub"></issn>
<publisher><publisher-name>Copernicus Publications</publisher-name>
<publisher-loc>Göttingen, Germany</publisher-loc>
</publisher>
</journal-meta>
<article-meta>
<article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.5194/egusphere-2026-3442</article-id>
<title-group>
<article-title>Unveiling carbonate dissolution in coastal sediments and its influence on seawater buffering capacity with &amp;delta;&lt;sup&gt;13&lt;/sup&gt;C&lt;sub&gt;DIC&lt;/sub&gt; and &lt;sup&gt;224&lt;/sup&gt;Ra&amp;ndash;&lt;sup&gt;228&lt;/sup&gt;Th disequilibria</article-title>
</title-group>
<contrib-group><contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Ma</surname>
<given-names>Xinjie</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Shi</surname>
<given-names>Xiangming</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Wu</surname>
<given-names>Yingxu</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Yi</surname>
<given-names>Xiangqi</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Zheng</surname>
<given-names>Biqi</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff3">
<sup>3</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Qi</surname>
<given-names>Di</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
</contrib-group><aff id="aff1">
<label>1</label>
<addr-line>State Key Laboratory of Mariculture Breeding, Jimei University, Xiamen, 361021, China</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff2">
<label>2</label>
<addr-line>Polar and Marine Research Institute, Jimei University, Xiamen, 361021, China</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff3">
<label>3</label>
<addr-line>Ningde Marine Center, Ministry of Natural Resources, Ningde, 352000, China</addr-line>
</aff>
<pub-date pub-type="epub">
<day>29</day>
<month>06</month>
<year>2026</year>
</pub-date>
<volume>2026</volume>
<fpage>1</fpage>
<lpage>31</lpage>
<permissions>
<copyright-statement>Copyright: &#x000a9; 2026 Xinjie Ma et al.</copyright-statement>
<copyright-year>2026</copyright-year>
<license license-type="open-access">
<license-p>This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this licence, visit <ext-link ext-link-type="uri"  xlink:href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</ext-link></license-p>
</license>
</permissions>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-3442/">This article is available from https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-3442/</self-uri>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-3442/egusphere-2026-3442.pdf">The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-3442/egusphere-2026-3442.pdf</self-uri>
<abstract>
<p>Organic carbon mineralization is generally recognized as the primary source of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) released from sediments in coastal seas. The CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; accumulation or the formation of corrosive microenvironment induced by organic carbon degradation can promote the dissolution of calcium carbonate (CaCO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;) in sediments, complicating the efficiency of carbon burial and total alkalinity (TA) inputs to aquatic environments. However, quantitative assessments of sediment CaCO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; dissolution and its impacts on the seawater carbonate remain poorly constrained. In this study, we selected typical high-productivity regions, mariculture farms, and applied the &lt;sup&gt;224&lt;/sup&gt;Ra&amp;ndash;&lt;sup&gt;228&lt;/sup&gt;Th disequilibrium approach to quantify the effluxes of DIC and TA across the sediment-water interface. Stable carbon isotopes of DIC (&amp;delta;&lt;sup&gt;13&lt;/sup&gt;C&lt;sub&gt;DIC&lt;/sub&gt;) were employed to trace DIC sources in porewater. The results showed that CaCO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; dissolution in sediments accounted for 27&amp;ndash;56 % of the benthic DIC efflux. Notably, a high contribution of CaCO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; dissolution did not coincide with strong organic carbon degradation across sites, suggesting that dynamic disturbance on sediments, which weakened the metabolic CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; accumulation in porewater, was also a crucial factor affecting carbonate dissolution. According to the evaluation of the influence that benthic DIC and TA efflux exerted on the seawater CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; content, the TA supplied by the CaCO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; dissolution was identified to enhance the carbonate buffering capacity of seawater and counteracted the acidification driven by organic matter remineralization. This indicates that CaCO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; dissolution in sediments should be involved in coastal carbon cycling and assessments on coastal ecosystem resilience under the risk of CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; elevation.</p>
</abstract>
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