The Under-the-Radar Creeks That Are Sweeping Carbon Out of Salt Marshes

Salt marshes are heralded as carbon sinks—coastal wetlands that trap greenhouse gases in their soils. But Eos reports new research that challenges that view. Scientists spent three years monitoring tidal creeks in coastal Louisiana, the small waterways threading through these marshes, and found something surprising: more dissolved carbon flows out of the marshes than stays locked in the soil. The outflow is driven by differences in carbon concentration between falling and rising tides. The findings suggest that these overlooked tidal creeks may transport far more carbon than is buried in marsh sediments, making them a major player in coastal carbon cycles that current climate models largely ignore.

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