Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers
The behaviour of dissolved Cd, Co, Zn, and Pb in North Atlantic near-surface waters (30°N/60°W–60°N/2°W)
Introduction
Most of the information about the behaviour of reactive trace elements in the oceans has been gained from single station profiles, which have allowed a classification into distinct distribution types (Bruland, 1983; Whitfield and Turner, 1987; Donat and Bruland, 1995). Of the trace metals discussed in this paper, Cd and Zn belong to the recycled elements that are biologically mediated and share similar vertical distributions with phosphate, nitrate or silicate. In contrast, Pb and Co (mostly) show higher values in surface waters indicating regulation by external sources. In addition, their concentrations in the deep layers generally decrease along the deep water flow from the North Atlantic to the North Pacific with continuing particle scavenging.
While we are gaining a familiarity with the typical distributions of trace metals, the processes that determine those distributions are still being elucidated. This is especially true for the surface water distributions, which can be affected by a number of physical and biogeochemical processes, including vertical mixing by upwelling or convection, atmospheric deposition, biogenic uptake, and continental input from rivers or shelf sediments. However, studies that improve our understanding of trace metal cycling in surface waters are still scarce. They should ideally focus on high resolution sampling in combination with determinations of nutrients and suspended particles in order to resolve the horizontal mesoscales and smaller scales. Long-range surface water transects for Cd, Cu, and Ni were first made by Boyle et al. (1981) in selected North Atlantic and North Pacific waters, followed by Measures et al. (1984) with measurements of Al, Be, Bi, and Se in the western North Atlantic and the Caribbean, and by Kremling (1985) with data on the distributions of Cd, Cu, Ni, and Mn in the open Atlantic and Brazilian and European shelf areas. More recently, Pohl et al. (1993) presented data from Cd, Cu, Pb, and Zn transects through the Arctic and eastern North Atlantic oceans, and Helmers and Rutgers van der Loeff (1993) and Rutgers van der Loeff et al. (1997) reported the results from continuous profiles of Al, Cd, Cu, and Pb across the Atlantic Ocean, from ∼50°N to 50°S.
Here we present Cd, Co, Zn, and Pb data from a long-distance transect covering the major oceanographic regimes between 30°N/60°W and 60°N/2°W (M36; Fig. 1). The principal goals of this survey were to determine the horizontal distributions and spatial variabilities of the dissolved metals between the northwest and northeast Atlantic Ocean, and to examine and quantify their relationship to the prevailing hydrography and biogeochemical processes. In addition, we use the particulate trace metal data from the same cruise (Kuss and Kremling, 1999a) to examine the partitioning of these elements and the nutritional requirements of bioactive metals (Cd, Co, Zn). Furthermore, we present the data from an earlier (1993) latitudinal profile (M26; ∼30–60°N; Fig. 1) on dissolved Cd, Co, and Pb to provide further insight into the temporal and spatial variabilities of these trace metals.
Section snippets
Collection of samples
A total of 239 samples were collected by means of a snorkel system (Schüßler and Kremling, 1993) aboard R.V. Meteor on two transects in September 1993 and June/July 1996 (Fig. 1; see also Appendix A). The distance between the sampling locations was ∼50 km. In this sampling system, seawater is pumped continuously from below the ship's hull (7 m water depth) through a teflon membrane pump and polyethylene tubing while the ship is underway. All subsamples were collected and stored in acid-cleaned
Results and discussion
The study area may be divided into four major regimes (Fig. 1): (1) The subtropical gyre, which is characterized by meso- to oligotrophic conditions with relatively low biogenic particle production and relatively high temperature and salinity (stations S1–S15, S40–S77, and A1–A10; Fig. 2, Fig. 3); (2) an area influenced by advection of shelf waters from the Labrador Sea indicated by relatively low temperatures and salinity, and relatively high nutrient concentrations (stations S16–S39); (3) the
Acknowledgements
We especially thank A. Prang and J. Kuss for the assistance in the collection of samples, J. Waniek for providing the salinity data, F. Malien for the tireless measurement of nutrients, and G. Wilhelm for his great help in data evaluation and preparation of figures. We also acknowledge the assistance of the crew of R.V. Meteor. We are in debt to M. Berg, W. Koeve and D. Wallace for their careful reading and helpful comments on an earlier version of the manuscript, and to G. Pahlke (UBA) who
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