Ocean crustal carbon uptake during seafloor alteration at DSDP Sites 417A, 417D, and 418A exceeds the estimated loss of carbon during magmatic ridge outgassing. If these sites are representative for oceanic crust in general, 2.2-2.9 x 10**12 moles of carbon are removed from the oceans per year as a net flux of carbon between the oceanic crust and seawater. Although most of this carbon occurs as calcium carbonate, this ocean crustal carbonate probably cannot be considered part of the marine calcium carbonate sink since much of the Ca in these carbonates must be derived from basalt alteration that is not balanced by a concomitant uptake of seawater Mg.Our present estimate cannot be satisfactorily applied to global carbon budgets, because of uncertainties in the bulk Ca/Mg budget of ocean floor alteration and because of the uniqueness of our estimate. Yet, our data document that the formation of ocean crust provides a significant sink for carbon that should be included in models of the global cycling of carbon. Furthermore, magmatic outgassing during ocean crust emplacement and seafloor basalt alteration may provide a buffering mechanism for atmospheric carbon.

Supplement to: Staudigel, Hubert; Hart, Stanley R; Schmincke, Hans-Ulrich; Smith, Brian M (1989): Cretaceous ocean crust at DSDP sites 417 and 418: Carbon uptake from weathering versus loss by magmatic outgassing. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 53(11), 3091-3094