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Science 21 March 2008:
Vol. 319. no. 5870, p. 1616
DOI: 10.1126/science.1148678
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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

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)