Tracing energy inputs into the seafloor using carbonate sediments

The seafloor represents a critical boundary between Earth’s interior and its surface. Any process that transports mass or energy across this boundary helps regulate Earth’s oceans, atmosphere, and biosphere—both at present and in the past. While geologists and geochemists often use principles of mass transfer, fluxes of energy across the seafloor have proven difficult to constrain. We developed a quantitative framework for energy transfer across the seafloor that integrates physical, chemical, and biological processes. We then use our framework to understand how changes in carbonate sediments through time reflect two major drivers in our planet’s history: changes in oceanic chemistry and evolutionary innovations in the history of life (e.g., burrowing behaviors)