@article{blair_leithold_thanos papanicolaou_wilson_keefer_kirton_vinson_schnoebelen_rhoads_yu_et al._2018, title={The C-biogeochemistry of a Midwestern USA agricultural impoundment in context: Lake Decatur in the intensively managed landscape critical zone observatory}, volume={138}, ISSN={0168-2563 1573-515X}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/S10533-018-0439-9}, DOI={10.1007/S10533-018-0439-9}, number={2}, journal={Biogeochemistry}, publisher={Springer Science and Business Media LLC}, author={Blair, Neal E. and Leithold, Elana L. and Thanos Papanicolaou, A. N. and Wilson, Christopher G. and Keefer, Laura and Kirton, Erin and Vinson, David and Schnoebelen, Doug and Rhoads, Bruce and Yu, Mingjing and et al.}, year={2018}, month={Mar}, pages={171–195} }
 @article{leithold_wegmann_bohnenstiehl_smith_noren_o’grady_2017, title={Slope failures within and upstream of Lake Quinault, Washington, as uneven responses to Holocene earthquakes along the Cascadia subduction zone}, volume={89}, ISSN={0033-5894 1096-0287}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/QUA.2017.96}, DOI={10.1017/QUA.2017.96}, abstractNote={Abstract}, number={1}, journal={Quaternary Research}, publisher={Cambridge University Press (CUP)}, author={Leithold, Elana L. and Wegmann, Karl W. and Bohnenstiehl, Delwayne R. and Smith, Stephen G. and Noren, Anders and O’Grady, Ryan}, year={2017}, month={Nov}, pages={178–200} }
 @misc{kuehl_alexander_blair_harris_marsaglia_ogston_orpin_roering_bever_bilderback_et al._2016, title={A source-to-sink perspective of the Waipaoa River margin}, volume={153}, ISSN={["1872-6828"]}, DOI={10.1016/j.earscirev.2015.10.001}, abstractNote={A fundamental goal of the Earth Science community is to understand how perturbations on Earth's surface are preserved in the stratigraphic record. Recent Source to Sink (S2S) studies of the Waipaoa Sedimentary System (WSS), New Zealand, are synthesized herein to provide a holistic perspective of the processes that generate, transport and preserve sedimentary strata and organic carbon on the Waipaoa margin in the late Quaternary. Rapid uplift associated with subduction processes and weak sedimentary units have conspired to generate rapid rates of incision and erosion in the Waipaoa catchment since the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). We show that although much of the sediment exported offshore during this time interval originated from valley excavation, a substantial portion emanated from hillslopes, mostly through deep-seated landslide and earthflow processes that were vigorous during periods of rapid fluvial incision just prior to the Pleistocene–Holocene transition. Lacustrine sediments deposited in naturally-dammed 7-ky-old Lake Tutira provide a record of Holocene environmental controls on upper catchment sedimentation in the WSS, with 1400 storms identified. Storm frequency is modulated by the waxing and waning of atmospheric teleconnections between the tropics and Antarctica. Furthermore, clear long-term changes in sediment yield are evident from the Lake Tutira record following human settlement as conversion to pasture is accompanied by a 3-fold increase in the long-term lake sediment accumulation rate. Whereas there is ample evidence that Waipaoa River flood deposits are routinely deposited offshore in the sheltered confines of Poverty Bay, over the longer term, waves and currents subsequently resuspend and transport these deposits both landward (sandy fraction) and seaward (finer fraction). Thus, the timing of sediment supply to areas of net sediment accumulation is more often driven by wave events that are not associated with river flooding. Therefore, we conclude that asynchronicity of river-sediment delivery and of wave resuspension in most instances precludes the direct preservation of flood events in the stratigraphic record of the Waipaoa Shelf. Over the longer term, the sediment package preserved on the shelf and slope since the LGM can be explained in large measure by sequence-stratigraphic models forced by varying sea level and ongoing tectonic deformation of the margin. As sea level rose, sediment supply to the slope was reduced by about a factor of 5 due to shelf trapping. Despite this reduction, turbidites are found at similar frequency throughout the LGM–Present, as the dominant trigger appears to be subduction earthquakes, with large ones having a return interval of about 200 ± 100 years. Sediment-budget exercises that consider both modern (river discharge versus centennial accumulation rates) and post-LGM (terrestrial production versus offshore isopachs) mass balances indicate that about half of the total sediment production from the Waipaoa escapes the study area. Moreover, a coupled sediment transport-hydrodynamic model and observations of textural trends on the shelf indicate that a large fraction of the sediment is carried outside the study area along the shelf to the northeast by the river plume or by combined current/wave activity. Therefore, we conclude that the WSS is an open system with sediment escape from the present day through the LGM. The organic matter associated with sediment as it moves from upland source to marine sink is a product of particle history, and provides a record of materials that have cycled over timescales of days to millions of years. The ubiquity of fossil Organic Carbon (OC) in both the terrestrial and marine realms of the Waipaoa attests both to the chronic nature of its source, crumbling mudstones further destabilized by land use, and its biogeochemical recalcitrance. Modern OC persists by virtue of its continual production along the S2S transit, and is buried and preserved within the adjacent marine depocenters. The Waipaoa contrasts with dispersal systems on wide, energetic shelves (e.g., the Amazon and Fly Rivers) where sediment is extensively refluxed in oxygenated overlying water resulting in the biogeochemical incineration of particulate OC. The Waipaoa, like other small mountainous rivers on active margins, exhibits a high riverine OC preservation efficiency (> 50%) in its marine depocenters because of the relatively rapid, event-driven accumulation of sediment.}, journal={EARTH-SCIENCE REVIEWS}, author={Kuehl, Steven A. and Alexander, Clark R. and Blair, Neal E. and Harris, Courtney K. and Marsaglia, Kathleen M. and Ogston, Andrea S. and Orpin, Alan R. and Roering, Joshua J. and Bever, Aaron J. and Bilderback, Eric L. and et al.}, year={2016}, month={Feb}, pages={301–334} }
 @article{leithold_blair_wegmann_2016, title={Source-to-sink sedimentary systems and global carbon burial: A river runs through it}, volume={153}, ISSN={["1872-6828"]}, DOI={10.1016/j.earscirev.2015.10.011}, abstractNote={Source to sink sedimentary systems are important settings of carbon cycling, serving as sites of carbon transfer between terrestrial and marine reservoirs, and as the primary locations for organic carbon burial on Earth. The age and character of the carbon that is buried at the terminal ends of these systems reflects the sources and transformations of the organic carbon (OC) throughout their linked terrestrial and marine segments. Profound differences are observed between large passive and small active margin systems. Large passive margin systems are characterized by large floodplains and relatively broad shelves where OC has protracted exposure to oxidants. Rapid burial in prograding, subaqueous deltaic clinoforms or bypass to submarine fans, however, leads to high burial efficiency of terrestrial biospheric OC in some passive margin settings. The OC in small active margin systems, in contrast, follows relatively short pathways from headwaters to seabed. This rapid transit, facilitated by the important role of storm-driven transport in such settings, can lead to high OC burial efficiencies. The study of OC sources and transformations in contemporaneous source to sink sedimentary systems informs interpretations about the systems in which OC was buried in the geologic past, their stratigraphic records of environmental change, and their potential to produce petroleum resources.}, journal={EARTH-SCIENCE REVIEWS}, author={Leithold, Elana L. and Blair, Neal E. and Wegmann, Karl W.}, year={2016}, month={Feb}, pages={30–42} }
 @article{xue_liu_demaster_leithold_wan_ge_nguyen_ta_2014, title={Sedimentary processes on the Mekong subaqueous delta: Clay mineral and geochemical analysis}, volume={79}, ISSN={1367-9120}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jseaes.2012.07.012}, DOI={10.1016/j.jseaes.2012.07.012}, abstractNote={Sedimentary processes on the inner Mekong Shelf were investigated by examining the characteristics of sediments sampled in gravity cores at 15 locations, including grain size, clay mineralogy, sediment accumulation rates, and the elemental and stable carbon isotopic composition of organic matter (atomic C/N ratios and δ13C). Deltaic deposits exhibit contrasting characteristics along different sides of the delta plain (South China Sea, SCS hereafter, to the east and Gulf of Thailand, GOT hereafter, to the west) as well as on and off the subaqueous deltaic system. On one hand, cores recovered from the subaqueous delta in the SCS/GOT are consisted of poorly/well sorted sediments with similar/different clay mineral assemblage with/from Mekong sediments. Excess 210Pb profiles, supported by 14C chronologies, indicate either "non-steady" (SCS side) or "rapid accumulation" (GOT side) processes on the subaqueous delta. The δ13C and C/N ratio indicate a mixture of terrestrial and marine-sourced organic matter in the deltaic sediment. On the other hand, cores recovered from areas with no deltaic deposits or seaward of the subaqueous delta show excess 210Pb profiles indicating "steady-state" accumulation with a greater proportion of marine-sourced organic matter. Core analysis's relevance with local depositional environment and previous acoustic profiling are discussed.}, journal={Journal of Asian Earth Sciences}, publisher={Elsevier BV}, author={Xue, Zuo and Liu, J. Paul and DeMaster, Dave and Leithold, Elana L. and Wan, Shiming and Ge, Qian and Nguyen, Van Lap and Ta, Thi Kim Oanh}, year={2014}, month={Jan}, pages={520–528} }
 @article{voli_wegmann_bohnenstiehl_leithold_osburn_polyakov_2013, title={Fingerprinting the sources of suspended sediment delivery to a large municipal drinking water reservoir: Falls Lake, Neuse River, North Carolina, USA}, volume={13}, ISSN={["1614-7480"]}, url={http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-84887284036&partnerID=MN8TOARS}, DOI={10.1007/s11368-013-0758-3}, number={10}, journal={JOURNAL OF SOILS AND SEDIMENTS}, publisher={Springer Science \mathplus Business Media}, author={Voli, Mark T. and Wegmann, Karl W. and Bohnenstiehl, DelWayne R. and Leithold, Elana and Osburn, Christopher L. and Polyakov, Viktor}, year={2013}, month={Dec}, pages={1692–1707} }
 @article{leithold_blair_childress_brulet_marden_orpin_kuehl_alexander_2013, title={Signals of watershed change preserved in organic carbon buried on the continental margin seaward of the Waipaoa River, New Zealand}, volume={346}, ISSN={["1872-6151"]}, DOI={10.1016/j.margeo.2013.10.007}, abstractNote={Abstract Holocene sediments buried on the continental shelf seaward of the Waipaoa River, northeastern New Zealand, preserve a stratigraphic record of terrestrial environmental change. The well characterized, long-term record of storms, volcanism, and human disturbance in this region provides an opportunity to examine how such changes are reflected in the character of organic carbon (OC) buried on the continental margin. Complimentary evidence obtained from analyses of the 14 C content and the elemental and stable carbon isotopic composition of different sedimentary fractions, including charcoal, wood, and clay-sized isolates, indicates that these perturbations led to mobilization of OC components with variable storage histories in the watershed. Charcoal transported in the modern Waipaoa River and buried in offshore depocenters includes a highly aged component that has apparently been slowly released from storage in soil or alluvial terraces. The charcoal fraction ages become dramatically younger in sediments deposited after the Taupo volcanic eruption (1717 cal yr BP) and then Polynesian settlement (ca. 700 cal yr BP), both signaling biomass burning. The mean age of woody plant fragments and clay-bound OC deposited on the shelf also varies over time, with older material having accumulated in the middle Holocene and since human occupation. Deposition of older-than-average wood fragments and clay-bound OC between about 5 and 3.6 kyr BP correlates with evidence for a period of increased storm frequency in the region and may reflect the enhanced delivery of aged soil and sedimentary rock mobilized from hill slopes via earthflows and/or deep seated landslides. Similarly, the deposition of older wood and clay-bound OC commensurate with the first anthropogenic disturbance ca. 700 years ago is consistent with accelerated mass wasting due to deforestation. At the same time, a change in the elemental and stable isotopic composition of bulk and clay-bound OC buried on the shelf may reflect increased marine primary productivity and/or mobilization of OC from deep levels in soil profiles. Deforestation of the Waipaoa headwaters by European settlers beginning in the middle 19th century is evinced by a sharper rise in the age of clay associated OC buried offshore. Today, deep gully incision into fractured sedimentary bedrock is a major source of sediment and kerogen to the river, and this process has left its mark on the age of sedimentary OC delivered to the adjacent margin.}, journal={MARINE GEOLOGY}, author={Leithold, Elana L. and Blair, Neal E. and Childress, Laurel B. and Brulet, Benjamin R. and Marden, Michael and Orpin, Alan R. and Kuehl, Steven A. and Alexander, Clark R.}, year={2013}, month={Dec}, pages={355–365} }
 @article{brackley_blair_trustrum_carter_leithold_canuel_johnston_tate_2010, title={Dispersal and transformation of organic carbon across an episodic, high sediment discharge continental margin, Waipaoa Sedimentary System, New Zealand}, volume={270}, ISSN={["1872-6151"]}, DOI={10.1016/j.margeo.2009.11.001}, abstractNote={The rivers that drain active, collisional margins of the southwest Pacific deliver up to 35% of particulate organic carbon (POC) to the world ocean, and are a key component of the global organic carbon flux. However, knowledge of the fate of terrestrial POC in the ocean is both limited and necessary for quantifying terrestrial and coastal ocean carbon budgets. Here, the fate of terrestrial POC is determined off the high discharge, Waipaoa River (sediment yield 15 Mt y− 1) based on a transect of seven cores from the river floodplain to the adjacent continental shelf and slope. Total organic carbon (%TOC), δ13C, 14C, C/N ratios and lipid biomarker compounds were used to determine biogeochemical characteristics of surface sediments from terrestrial source to marine sink, and how these characteristics vary with river discharge. Complementary to surface sediments, down-core characteristics of three multi-cores covering the shelf and slope regions were used to identify perturbations in sediment supply via major floods. The presence of flood deposits allows us to compare their OC characteristics with non-flood sediment, thereby helping address the question of how flood events in the river catchment affect the transfer and fate of terrestrial OC through the marine environment. Results from this study show that as surface sediments are physically and biologically processed across the continental margin, they gain a marine signature. Biomarker analyses of surface samples show decreases in terrigenous vascular plant sources with increasing distance offshore. Biomarkers also demonstrate that terrestrial OC is being transferred across the continental margin, with plant sterols, long-chain alcohols and long-chain fatty acids (biomarkers indicative of vascular plants) persisting as far offshore as the mid-continental slope. In contrast to ambient conditions represented by surface sediments, rapid delivery by floods allows for more complete transfer of terrestrial carbon to the marine environment. A 1–10 cm thick flood layer preserved from Cyclone Bola (March 1988) contains a significant amount of terrestrially-sourced OC which subsequently was rapidly buried by sediments delivered during less extreme conditions.}, number={1-4}, journal={MARINE GEOLOGY}, author={Brackley, Hannah L. and Blair, Neal E. and Trustrum, Noel A. and Carter, Lionel and Leithold, Elana L. and Canuel, Elizabeth A. and Johnston, James H. and Tate, Kevin R.}, year={2010}, month={Apr}, pages={202–212} }
 @article{blair_leithold_brackley_trustrum_page_childress_2010, title={Terrestrial sources and export of particulate organic carbon in the Waipaoa sedimentary system: Problems, progress and processes}, volume={270}, ISSN={["1872-6151"]}, DOI={10.1016/j.margeo.2009.10.016}, abstractNote={The composition of particulate organic carbon in sedimentary systems can provide information concerning sources of materials and their history. The NSF-MARGINS Source to Sink study of the Waipaoa Sedimentary System in New Zealand provides a platform to calibrate the particulate organic carbon sedimentary record by linking chemical characteristics to terrestrial and marine sedimentary processes. This report is a preliminary evaluation of the available organic carbon concentration, elemental C/N ratio and C-isotopic composition data for the terrestrial portion of the system. Samples analyzed were rocks, soils, floodplain sediments and riverine suspended sediments. Measurements confirm previous conclusions that a portion of the riverine particulate organic carbon is derived from sedimentary rocks. The rock C (kerogen) concentration is relatively invariant (~ 0.25%) from rock source, to riverine and floodplain sediments. The non-rock C is derived from C3 vegetation in most of the watershed, the exception being the floodplain in which local C4 plant inputs are detected. The non-rock organic carbon has a mean 14C-age of approximately 1000 years, which reflects a mixture of modern and aged components. The presence of aged non-rock C, which is chronic in its supply to the river, indicates storage of particulates within the watershed. Remobilized colluvial and alluvial deposits are among the possible sources. Systematic differences are found between δ13C databases generated by various groups. While there may be natural explanations for these differences, methodological artifacts have to be considered. Standardization of methods that cross source-to-sink boundaries is recommended.}, number={1-4}, journal={MARINE GEOLOGY}, author={Blair, N. E. and Leithold, E. L. and Brackley, H. and Trustrum, N. and Page, M. and Childress, L.}, year={2010}, month={Apr}, pages={108–118} }
 @article{brackley_blair_trustrum_carter_leithold_canuel_johnston_tate_2009, title={WITHDRAWN: Dispersal and transformation of organic carbon across an episodic, high sediment discharge continental margin, Waipaoa Sedimentary System, New Zealand}, ISSN={0025-3227}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.margeo.2009.11.008}, DOI={10.1016/j.margeo.2009.11.008}, abstractNote={The Publisher regrets that this article is an accidental duplication of an article that has already been published, doi: 10.1016/j.margeo.2009.11.001 . The duplicate article has therefore been withdrawn.}, journal={Marine Geology}, publisher={Elsevier BV}, author={Brackley, Hannah L. and Blair, Neal E. and Trustrum, Noel A. and Carter, Lionel and Leithold, Elana L. and Canuel, Elizabeth A. and Johnston, James H. and Tate, Kevin R.}, year={2009}, month={Dec} }
 @article{leithold_blair_perkey_2006, title={Geomorphologic controls on the age of particulate organic carbon from small mountainous and upland rivers}, volume={20}, ISSN={["1944-9224"]}, DOI={10.1029/2005gb002677}, abstractNote={To assess the role that erosion processes play in governing the character of particulate organic carbon (POC) discharged from small mountainous and upland rivers, a suite of watersheds from Oregon, California, and New Zealand was investigated. The rivers share similar geology, tectonic setting, and climate, but have sediment yields that range over 3 orders of magnitude. The 14C age of the POC loads is highly correlated with sediment yield. Carbon isotope mass balances reveal that the rivers carry bimodal mixtures of modern‐plant‐ and ancient‐rock‐derived OC. At lower yields, modern plant OC dominates the material delivered to the river by sheetwash and shallow landsliding. With increasing yield, a progressively larger part of the POC is contributed directly from bedrock erosion via deep gully incision. Our results support the inference that active margin watersheds are important sources of aged POC to the ocean.}, number={3}, journal={GLOBAL BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLES}, author={Leithold, Elana L. and Blair, Neal E. and Perkey, David W.}, year={2006}, month={Sep} }
 @misc{leithold_perkey_blair_creamer_2005, title={Sedimentation and carbon burial on the northern California continental shelf: the signatures of land-use change}, volume={25}, ISSN={["1873-6955"]}, DOI={10.1016/j.csr.2004.09.015}, abstractNote={The burial of organic carbon (OC) on continental margins is strongly coupled to the supply and accumulation of inorganic mineral particles. It follows that carbon burial on the margins should be impacted by changes in riverine sediment delivery, yet these impacts have not been well documented. In this study, an ∼2000-year record of sedimentation and carbon burial on the continental shelf offshore from the Eel River in northern California was examined. The record reveals a 6–11-fold increase in the rate of sediment accumulation on the mid-shelf beginning about 1955, and a concomitant decrease in grain size and increase in flood-layer preservation. At the same time, the age of buried wood fragments abruptly decreased and their stable carbon isotopic composition became enriched in 13C. We argue that these changes can be explained largely as the result of altered land use in the Eel watershed during the past century and its impacts on shelf sediment dispersal processes. Sedimentary OC on the Eel shelf consists primarily of discrete wood fragments associated with coarse-silt- and sand-sized particles, and of organic matter strongly bound to clay-sized mineral grains. The clay fraction is a particularly sensitive recorder of environmental change in the Eel system. Above the 1955 horizon, the clay fraction shows an abrupt decrease in OC concentration and loading (OC content normalized to particle surface area) attendant with the increased accumulation rate. Kerogen carbon constitutes a relatively constant proportion of the clay-associated OC throughout the ∼2000-year record. Increases in mass wasting and input of bedrock material following the onset of intensive industrial logging in the Eel watershed may have resulted in a lower loading of terrestrial plant OC in the clay fraction deposited after 1955 as suggested by isotopic mass balance calculations. The Eel River is representative of small mountainous watersheds worldwide that deliver a major portion of the sediment and carbon flux to the margins and that have been strongly impacted by land-use change during the past century. Our results suggest that such changes leave a distinctive mark in both the sedimentological and geochemical records preserved offshore.}, number={3}, journal={CONTINENTAL SHELF RESEARCH}, author={Leithold, EL and Perkey, DW and Blair, NE and Creamer, TN}, year={2005}, month={Feb}, pages={349–371} }
 @article{blair_leithold_aller_2004, title={From bedrock to burial: the evolution of particulate organic carbon across coupled watershed-continental margin systems}, volume={92}, ISSN={["1872-7581"]}, DOI={10.1016/j.marchem.2004.06.023}, abstractNote={Deltas sequester nearly half of the organic carbon (OC) buried in the marine environment. The composition of the buried organic matter reflects both watershed and seabed processes. A conceptual model is presented that describes the evolution of particulate organic carbon (POC) as it travels from its terrestrial source to its burial at sea. Alterations to the POC occur primarily in bioactive reservoirs, such as soils and the surface mixed layer (SML) of the seabed, where new organic matter can be added and older material degraded. Bypassing or rapid passage through the reservoirs is a key parameter because it avoids change. The Eel River of northern California and the Amazon River systems illustrate the importance of reservoir transit time and storage in determining the character of POC delivered to the continental margin. The Eel exemplifies a bypass system. Mass-wasting processes on land deliver unaltered bedrock along with OC derived from extant vegetation directly to the river channel without significant storage in soils. Rapid burial on the shelf occurs as a result of flood events. As a consequence, the buried material appears to be a simple mixture of carbon derived from kerogen (bedrock C), and modern terrestrial and marine sources. This is predicted to be a characteristic of the many similar short rivers on active margins that supply >40% of the fluvial sediment to the world's ocean. Extensive storage and processing of OC in lowland soils is a characteristic of the large Amazon watershed. Upland POC compositions are either overprinted or replaced by lowland sources. Upon delivery to the shelf, over half of the riverine POC is lost as a result of residence in sediment layers that are periodically reworked over time scales of days to months. The addition of fresh reactive marine OC, exposure to oxygen, and the regeneration of metal oxidants during resuspension events fuel the oxidation of the riverine organic matter. The nature of the watershed-shelf processes likely produce a complex mixture of organics possessing a continuum of ages and reactivities. The model illustrates the need to develop tools to measure residence times of particles in the various reservoirs so that the behavior of POC can be calibrated as it moves through a sedimentary system. The ultimate goal is to be able to use the organic geochemistry of soils and sediments to quantitatively infer the history of processes that determine both the composition and amount of POC present in different depositional environments.}, number={1-4}, journal={MARINE CHEMISTRY}, author={Blair, NE and Leithold, EL and Aller, RC}, year={2004}, month={Dec}, pages={141–156} }
 @article{blair_leithold_ford_peeler_holmes_perkey_2003, title={The persistence of memory: The fate of ancient sedimentary organic carbon in a modern sedimentary system}, volume={67}, ISSN={["1872-9533"]}, DOI={10.1016/S0016-7037(02)01043-8}, abstractNote={The cycle of organic carbon burial and exhumation moderates atmospheric chemistry and global climate over geologic timescales. The burial of organic carbon occurs predominantly at sea in association with clay-sized particles derived from the erosion of uplifted continental rocks. It follows that the history of the fine-grained particles on land may bear on the nature of the organic carbon buried. In this study, the evolution of clay-associated organic matter was followed from bedrock source to the seabed in the Eel River sedimentary system of northern California using natural abundance 13C and 14C tracers. Approximately half of the fine-grained organic carbon delivered to the shelf is derived from ancient sedimentary organic carbon found in the uplifted Mesozoic-Tertiary Franciscan Complex of the watershed. The short residence time of friable soils on steep hill slopes, coupled with rapid sediment accumulation rates on the shelf-slope, act to preserve the ancient organic carbon. A comparable quantity of modern organic carbon is added to particles in the watershed and on the shelf and slope. The bimodal mixture of ancient and modern C in soils and sediments may be characteristic of many short, mountainous rivers. If the Eel River chemistry is typical of such rivers, more than 40 Tg of ancient organic C may be delivered to the world's oceans each year. A flux of that magnitude would have a significant influence on marine and global C-cycles.}, number={1}, journal={GEOCHIMICA ET COSMOCHIMICA ACTA}, author={Blair, NE and Leithold, EL and Ford, ST and Peeler, KA and Holmes, JC and Perkey, DW}, year={2003}, month={Jan}, pages={63–73} }
 @article{leithold_blair_2001, title={Watershed control on the carbon loading of marine sedimentary particles}, volume={65}, ISSN={["0016-7037"]}, DOI={10.1016/S0016-7037(01)00593-2}, abstractNote={Previous investigations of the factors governing organic carbon burial on continental margins have pointed toward the important, apparently protective association of carbon with mineral particles. These studies have also revealed dramatic transformations of carbon-particle relationships at the land-sea interface. Riverine particles in some settings lose a large portion of their loads of sorbed terrestrial carbon upon discharge to the ocean and gradually reload to similar levels with marine carbon. The Eel River in northern California and the adjacent continental shelf were selected as an ideal system to investigate the rates of these processes. The river is episodically subject to large floods, and the shelf stratigraphy preserves a record of the resultant large pulses of sediment and carbon input to the marine environment. Carbon isotopic, carbon to nitrogen, and carbon to surface area ratios of particles in flood deposits were expected to reflect the rapid unloading of terrestrial carbon from discharged particles, whereas nonflood sediments that have accumulated at slower rates on the shelf were expected to carry higher loads of marine carbon. Our results indicate, however, that particles on the Eel shelf have retained their loads of terrigenous carbon, and that a significant portion of the particle-sorbed carbon buried on the shelf is kerogen derived from the Mesozoic-Tertiary Franciscan Complex. We hypothesize that rates of uplift and mass wasting in the Eel watershed and rates of particle delivery to and burial on the continental shelf, are so rapid that kerogen is not completely oxidized and is recycled instead. The loading of carbon on clay-sized particles delivered to the shelf, moreover, is dependent on river discharge and may reflect the relative importance of different mass wasting processes during precipitation events of varying intensity. The Eel River system is likely to be representative of other small, mountainous rivers and indicates that processes on land may play an important role in governing the amount and character of carbon being buried on the continental margins.}, number={14}, journal={GEOCHIMICA ET COSMOCHIMICA ACTA}, author={Leithold, EL and Blair, NE}, year={2001}, month={Jul}, pages={2231–2240} }
 @article{leithold_hope_1999, title={Deposition and modification of a flood layer on the northern California shelf: lessons from and about the fate of terrestrial particulate organic carbon}, volume={154}, ISSN={["0025-3227"]}, DOI={10.1016/S0025-3227(98)00112-1}, abstractNote={The 1995 flood of the Eel River in northern California provided an opportunity to follow the short-term history of riverine particulate matter on a continental shelf. Particulate organic carbon, including both vascular plant debris and soil carbon, was utilized as a tracer of the distribution and modification of the shelf flood deposit. These components were sorted during initial emplacement of the deposit, both in the river plume and in the benthic boundary layer. During the 8 months following the flood, lateral transport, shallow burial, and bioturbation contributed to spatial changes in the amount and character of carbon in the flood deposit. Study of the deposit suggests that this and previous flood layers may be preserved in the shelf and upper slope stratigraphic record as clay-rich beds with relatively high carbon to nitrogen ratios and more negative δ13C values than background, non-flood sediment. Concentrations of vascular plant debris are locally characteristic of such layers, and may serve as distinctive stratigraphic markers. Investigation of organic carbon in the 1995 flood layer on the Eel River shelf provides insight into the fate of terrestrial particulate carbon on continental margins in general. Flooding of the Eel River, and of similar river systems draining mountainous terrains, introduces large quantities of terrestrial carbon to the marine environment and may favor the preservation of both terrestrial and marine carbon. The abundant woody vascular plant debris discharged during floods is especially likely to survive oxidation and sulfate reduction in the shallower zones of the seabed. This study reveals the dominant role that physical and biological processes may play in attenuating the terrestrial organic-carbon signal on shelves over monthly to yearly time scales.}, number={1-4}, journal={MARINE GEOLOGY}, author={Leithold, EL and Hope, RS}, year={1999}, month={Feb}, pages={183–195} }
 @article{sethi_leithold_1997, title={Recurrent depletion of benthic oxygen with 4th-order transgressive maxima in the Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway}, volume={128}, ISSN={["1872-616X"]}, DOI={10.1016/S0031-0182(96)00104-6}, abstractNote={A study was designed to investigate the relationship between depletion of benthic oxygen and 4th-order sea-level change within the Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway of North America. Three 4th-order sea-level change cycles were studied in strata belonging to the Tropic Shale and the Tununk Shale Member of the Mancos Shale in Utah. These sedimentary deposits accumulated within prodeltaic environments. In Utah, strata belonging to all three 4th-order cycles exhibit evidence for depletion of benthic oxygen at times of peak 4th-order transgression and development of condensed sections. The evidence includes decreased intensities of bioturbation, increased CrAl, NiAl, and ZnAl ratios, and decreased MnFe ratios. The data also suggest that depletion of benthic oxygen in the distal section preceeded that in the more proximal one and thus may reflect episodic expansion of an oxygen-depleted water mass(es) from the pelagic to the prodeltaic environment of the seaway. Evidence for subsequent increases in benthic oxygen level with the onset of 4th-order regressions is interpreted to reflect either aggradation of the seafloor above the oxygen-poor water due to sediment accumulation or contraction of the oxygen-depleted water mass from the prodeltaic part of the seaway, or a combination of the two. S/Organic C ratios of strata interpreted to have been deposited under conditions of depleted benthic oxygen are distinctly below 0.4 and thus were not useful for recognition of paleo-oxygen levels in the prodeltaic environment. This study highlights the importance of depletion of benthic oxygen as a mechanism for enhancing preservation of organic carbon in condensed sections on a hundred thousand year time scale. Our results underline the potential for source rock formation in similar prodeltaic deposits of other epicontinental seaways during periods of relatively high sea level and global depletion of benthic oxygen.}, number={1-4}, journal={PALAEOGEOGRAPHY PALAEOCLIMATOLOGY PALAEOECOLOGY}, author={Sethi, PS and Leithold, EL}, year={1997}, month={Feb}, pages={39–61} }