Warming-induced retreat of West Antarctic glaciers weakened carbon sequestration ability but increased mercury enrichment

Chengzhen Zhou, Maodian Liu (), Robert P. Mason, Prakhin Assavapanuvat, Nikki H. Zhang, Thomas S. Bianchi, Qianru Zhang, Xiaolong Li, Ruoyu Sun, Jiubin Chen, Xuejun Wang () and Peter A. Raymond
Additional contact information
Chengzhen Zhou: Peking University
Maodian Liu: Peking University
Robert P. Mason: University of Connecticut
Prakhin Assavapanuvat: University of Florida
Nikki H. Zhang: Yale University
Thomas S. Bianchi: University of Florida
Qianru Zhang: Duke University
Xiaolong Li: Peking University
Ruoyu Sun: Tianjin University
Jiubin Chen: Tianjin University
Xuejun Wang: Peking University
Peter A. Raymond: Yale University

Nature Communications, 2025, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-14

Abstract: Abstract The Southern Ocean, one of Earth’s most productive areas, is widely recognized as a major sink for atmospheric carbon and mercury, tightly coupling primary production with the sedimentary sequestration of these elements. The impacts of climate warming on these processes, however, remain unclear. Here, we utilize 20 sediment cores from the Ross Sea, a representative ice-shelf sea in West Antarctica, to examine how Holocene warming and extensive glacial retreat influenced carbon and mercury sequestration. We find that organic carbon (OC) burial has been relatively constant over the past 12,000 years, whereas mercury burial in the Ross Embayment and open ocean exhibited three- and eightfold increases, respectively. Carbon isotopes and accumulation profiles suggest warming boosted glacial- and terrestrial-derived OC inputs to the ocean, while trace elements and biomarkers reveal a declining contribution offshore. Biomarker ratios further indicate greater remineralization of this OC in the open ocean. Consequently, enhanced OC degradation, coupled with rising external mercury inputs, drives mercury enrichment in marine sediments before reaching the seafloor. These findings imply that ongoing warming could trigger a positive feedback loop, accelerating OC degradation into CO2 and amplifying the impacts of anthropogenic mercury on Southern Ocean ecosystems.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-57085-1

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