Science Highlights

Some recent GEOTRACES science findings are reported below.

Coupling Rare Earth Elements concentrations, neodymium and radium isotopes: a powerful tool to decode environmental processes

For the first time, neodymium (Nd) isotopic compositions have been measured together with dissolved and colloidal Rare Earth Elements (REE) concentrations in the Amazon estuary salinity gradient, as part of […]

06.07.2015

The potential of coupling high-resolution circulation models and geochemical tracers: example of the Mediterranean Sea

For the first time, a numerical study proposes the simulation of the anthropogenic tritium (3H) invasion as well as the distribution of its decay product helium-3 (3He) using a high-resolution […]

30.06.2015

The sedimentary flux of dissolved rare earth elements to the ocean

This work highlights the importance of the sedimentary source of dissolved Rare Earth Elements (REE) to the oceanic waters. Indeed, strong subsurface REE concentration maxima are evidenced in pore fluids […]

29.06.2015

Neodymium isotopic signature of the Ross Sea Water characterized

The first seawater neodymium isotopic compositions (εNd) and neodymium concentrations [Nd] profiles across the South Pacific circum-Antarctic fronts have been published recently (Basak et al., 2015, see reference below). Thanks to […]

12.06.2015

First major ocean sections of silicon isotopes

The GEOTRACES programme is providing the first major ocean sections of silicon isotopes, δ30Si, aiding efforts to use this proxy to reconstruct diatom silica production in both the modern and […]

08.06.2015

Insights into Particle Cycling from Thorium and Particle Data

Phoebe Lam and Olivier Marchal (2015, see reference below) propose to describe, with the same model, the dynamics of particles in the oceanic water column and its effects –on four […]

21.05.2015

Shallow methylmercury production in the marginal sea ice zone of the central Arctic Ocean

Understanding persistent high levels of mercury in arctic biota has been an elusive goal for nearly two decades. Little is known about where exactly inorganic Hg inputs into the Arctic […]

20.05.2015

Two GEOTRACES works question the present ocean chemical elements budgets

New revelations on the land-ocean flux of chemical elements are presented in two different papers highlighting the value of the ocean isotopic data. Both works reveal that the present quantification […]

15.05.2015

Thorium and protactinium radionuclides reveal marine particles processes

Thanks to the compilation of thorium-230 (230Th) and protactinium-231 (231Pa) data obtained along north-south and east-west transoceanic sections (in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans), Hayes and co-workers (2015, see reference […]

13.05.2015

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