English: Biogeochemical sulfur cycle of marine sediments.

Arrows indicate fluxes and pathways of biological or chemical processes. Microbial dissimilatory sulfate reduction to sulfide is a predominant terminal pathway of organic matter mineralization in the anoxic seabed. Chemical or microbial oxidation of the produced sulfide establishes a complex network of pathways in the sulfur cycle, leading to intermediate sulfur species and partly back to sulfate. The intermediates include elemental sulfur, polysulfides, thiosulfate, and sulfite, which are all substrates for further microbial oxidation, reduction or disproportionation. New microbiological discoveries, such as long-distance electron transfer through sulfide oxidizing cable bacteria, add to the complexity. Isotope exchange reactions play an important role for the stable isotope geochemistry and for the experimental study of sulfur transformations using radiotracers. Microbially catalyzed processes are partly reversible whereby the back-reaction affects our interpretation of radiotracer experiments and provides a mechanism for isotope fractionation.

For further explanation, see: Jørgensen, B.B., Findlay, A.J. and Pellerin, A. (2019) "The biogeochemical sulfur cycle of marine sediments". Frontiers in microbiology, 10: 849. doi:10.3389/fmicb.2019.00849.