Al Azhar M. auteur aut IRD Lachkar Z. auteur aut IRD Levy Marina auteur aut IRD Smith S. auteur aut IRD text journalArticle eng text/pdf reformatted digital access The combination of high primary productivity and weak ventilation in the Arabian Sea (AS) and Bay of Bengal (BoB) generates vast areas of depleted oxygen, known as oxygen minimum zones (OMZs). The AS OMZ is the world's thickest and hosts up to 40% of global denitrification. In contrast, the OMZ in the BoB is weaker and denitrification free. Using a series of model simulations, we show that the deeper remineralization depth (RD) in the BoB, potentially associated with organic matter aggregation with riverine mineral particles, contributes to weaken its OMZ. When the RD is set uniformly across both seas, the model fails to reproduce the observed contrast between the two OMZs, irrespective of the chosen RD. In contrast, when the RD is allowed to vary spatially, the contrasting distributions of oxygen and nitrate are correctly reproduced, and water column denitrification is simulated exclusively in the AS, in agreement with observations. specialized oxygen minimum zones remineralization depth the Arabian Sea the Bay of Bengal denitrification biogeochemical cycles ARABIE MER BENGALE GOLFE 032 44 21 11106-11114 2017 0094-8276 https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010071954 10.1002/2017gl075157 0094-8276 [F B010071954] https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010071954 https://horizon.documentation.ird.fr/exl-doc/pleins_textes/divers18-01/010071954.pdf IRD - Base Horizon / Pleins textes 2018-02-05 2023-07-11 fdi:010071954 fre