Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.
ISSCR

Site Tools

  • AAAS
  • Subscribe
  • Feedback

Site Search

Search Advanced

Science 21 March 2008:
Vol. 319. no. 5870, p. 1616
DOI: 10.1126/science.1148678
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Technical Comments

Response to Comment on "Physical Model for the Decay and Preservation of Marine Organic Carbon"

Daniel H. Rothman1* and David C. Forney1,2

Fast enzyme deactivation rates are not required by our physical model of organic matter decay. Instead, low effective diffusivities arising from sorption of enzymes and physical protection by minerals are sufficient. Our model predicts observed temporal trends in organic-matter decay rather than specific rate constants. Existing statistical models of intrinsic reactivity explain observed trends empirically but not theoretically.

1 Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
2 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: dhr{at}mit.edu

Read the Full Text

ADVERTISEMENT
Click Me!

ADVERTISEMENT
Click Me!

To Advertise     Find Products