Deciphering deltas : Mapping environmental change in time and space where rivers meet the sea University of St Andrews In partnership with University of Glasgow

Deltas – landforms created where sediment is deposited at the mouth of a river – bury vast amounts of organic carbon, thereby playing a central role in the biogeochemical carbon and sulphur cycles (Fig. 1). Delta sediments are highly heterogeneous, varying over space and time, with important consequences for the interaction of sediments with biogeochemical processes. Understanding this complexity is a challenge for biogeochemists, Earth historians, and petroleum exploration.