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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>
<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-2026-5785</article-id>
<title-group>
<article-title>Sedimentary organic bromine as indicator for marine organic carbon: a proxy for primary productivity in paleo-records</article-title>
</title-group>
<contrib-group><contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Hilgen</surname>
<given-names>Cecile Sofie</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0009-0000-7501-6849</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Reichart</surname>
<given-names>Gert-Jan</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>Boer</surname>
<given-names>Wim</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>van der Meer</surname>
<given-names>Marcel T. J.</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6454-1752</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff3">
<sup>3</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Sangiorgi</surname>
<given-names>Francesca</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4233-6154</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Hennekam</surname>
<given-names>Rick</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
</contrib-group><aff id="aff1">
<label>1</label>
<addr-line>Department of Earth Sciences, Utrecht University, 3584 CB Utrecht, The Netherlands</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff2">
<label>2</label>
<addr-line>Department of Ocean Systems, NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, 1790 AB, Den Burg, The Netherlands</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff3">
<label>3</label>
<addr-line>Department of Marine Microbiology and Biogeochemistry, NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, 1790 AB, Den Burg, The Netherlands</addr-line>
</aff>
<pub-date pub-type="epub">
<day>09</day>
<month>10</month>
<year>2026</year>
</pub-date>
<volume>2026</volume>
<fpage>1</fpage>
<lpage>34</lpage>
<permissions>
<copyright-statement>Copyright: &#x000a9; 2026 Cecile Sofie Hilgen 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-2026-5785/">This article is available from https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-5785/</self-uri>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-5785/egusphere-2026-5785.pdf">The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-5785/egusphere-2026-5785.pdf</self-uri>
<abstract>
<p>The efficiency of the ocean as a carbon sink requires estimates for marine primary productivity and for the fraction of this primary productivity that is ultimately buried in the sediment. Partitioning sedimentary total organic carbon (TOC) into marine (OC&lt;sub&gt;mar&lt;/sub&gt;) and terrestrial (OC&lt;sub&gt;ter&lt;/sub&gt;) components is thereby essential for distinguishing the contribution of land-derived organic matter versus locally produced organic matter in a marine setting. Previous studies have proposed sedimentary organic-bound bromine (Br&lt;sub&gt;org&lt;/sub&gt;)-to-TOC (Br/OC) ratio as a proxy for OC&lt;sub&gt;mar&lt;/sub&gt;, as marine organic matter is enriched in bromine relative to terrestrial organic matter. Yet, the influence of other environmental and depositional conditions on Br&lt;sub&gt;org&lt;/sub&gt; and thereby its potential as a quantitative tool for unravelling terrestrial versus marine organic matter remain poorly constrained. To address this, we present a multi-regional dataset of Br&lt;sub&gt;org &lt;/sub&gt;in core-top sediments from the Baltic Sea and North Sea to the Atlantic Ocean, Black Sea, and Mediterranean Sea (n = 55). We investigate environmental controls on the Br/OC ratio and compare the performance of Br&lt;sub&gt;org&lt;/sub&gt; with traditional marine organic matter indicators such as the carbon isotope composition of bulk organic matter (&amp;delta;&lt;sup&gt;13&lt;/sup&gt;C&lt;sub&gt;org&lt;/sub&gt;) and the carbon-to-nitrogen (C/N) ratio in capturing OC&lt;sub&gt;mar&lt;/sub&gt; contributions. By better constraining the marine carbon flux, Br&lt;sub&gt;org &lt;/sub&gt;not only distinguishes OC&lt;sub&gt;mar&lt;/sub&gt; but also directly reflects its link to marine net primary productivity (NPP), as sedimentary OC&lt;sub&gt;mar&lt;/sub&gt; is primarily derived from NPP. Across all studied basins, Br&lt;sub&gt;org&lt;/sub&gt; shows a strong positive relationship with TOC (R&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; = 0.86). After accounting for preservation effects using bottom-water oxygen concentrations (oxic versus anoxic settings), we show that sedimentary Br&lt;sub&gt;org&lt;/sub&gt; deposited under oxic conditions exhibits the strongest relationship with NPP (R&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; = 0.65), compared to TOC (R&amp;sup2; = 0.43), &amp;delta;&lt;sup&gt;13&lt;/sup&gt;C&lt;sub&gt;org&lt;/sub&gt;-derived OC&lt;sub&gt;mar&lt;/sub&gt; (R&amp;sup2; = 0.38), and C/N-derived OC&lt;sub&gt;mar&lt;/sub&gt; (R&amp;sup2; = 0.26). This suggests that Br&lt;sub&gt;org&lt;/sub&gt; not only traces OC&lt;sub&gt;mar &lt;/sub&gt;more effectively than traditional proxies but also outperforms them in reconstructing productivity signals. However, this relationship applies mainly to sediments deposited under oxic conditions (North Sea, Atlantic Ocean, and Mediterranean Sea). Under anoxic conditions (Baltic and Black Seas), reduced oxygen exposure may enhance the preservation of labile, Br-rich organic matter, causing these sediments to follow a different Br&lt;sub&gt;org&lt;/sub&gt;-NPP relationship than oxic settings. Finally, we apply this Br&lt;sub&gt;org&lt;/sub&gt;-NPP relationship to a North Sea sedimentary record by calibrating X-ray fluorescence core scanning Br data to Br&lt;sub&gt;org&lt;/sub&gt; using a multivariate log-ratio calibration. As such, this approach allows high-resolution Br&lt;sub&gt;org&lt;/sub&gt; records downcore to be generated and used to trace OC&lt;sub&gt;mar&lt;/sub&gt; and for quantitative past NPP (paleoproductivity) reconstructions.</p>
</abstract>
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<funding-group>
<award-group id="gs1">
<funding-source>Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek</funding-source>
<award-id>OCENW.XL21.XL21.075</award-id>
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