Phosphorus, an essential nutrient, is removed from the oceans only through burial with marine sediments. Organic phosphorus (Po,g) constitutes an important fraction (ca. 25%) oftotal-P in marine sediments. However, given the inherent lability of primary Po,g biochemicals, it is a puzzle that any Pm, is preserved in marine sediments. The goal of this thesis was to address this apparent paradox by linking bulk and molecular-level Po" information.A newly-developed sequential extraction method, which isolates sedimentary Po" reservoirs based on solubility, was used in concert with 3lp nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (31p_NMR) to quantify Po,g functional group concentrations. The coupled extraction/ 31 P-NMR method was applied to three sediment cores from the Santa Barbara Basin, and the first-ever high-resolution depth profiles of molecular-level Po,g distribution during diagenesis were generated.These depth profiles were used to consider regulation of Pm, distribution by biomass abundance, chemical structure, and physical protection mechanisms. Biomass cannot account for more than a few percent of sedimentary Po,g. No evidence for direct structural control on remineralization of Po,g was found. Instead, sorptive protection appears to be an important mechanism for Po,g preservation, and structure may act as a secondary control due to preferential sorption of specific Pm, compound classes.