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 in core tops collected along the Californian and Oregon margins (above, within and below the oxygen minimum zone of the North-East Pacific). Diffusive flux of neodymium (Nd) out of the sediments matches preceding estimates of the “missing term” of Nd in modeled global Nd budgets. Also interesting, the decoupling between REE and iron fates in these pore fluids…

15 Abbott l
Figure: Site locations and the associated pore fluid profiles. Neodymium (Nd) and iron (Fe) profiles plotted against sediment depth in pore fluids from (clockwise from top left) the Oregon shelf, the Oregon slope, and the California shelf. Filled symbols represent sites unique to this study and open symbols are sites from prior expeditions. Rivers are indicated in blue and labeled. Click here to view the figure larger.

Reference:

Abbott, A. N., Haley, B. A., McManus, J., & Reimers, C. E. (2015). The sedimentary flux of dissolved rare earth elements to the ocean. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 154, 186–200. doi:10.1016/j.gca.2015.01.010. Please click here to access the paper.

Latest highlights

Science Highlights

Extremely high radioactive levels in the manganese nodules

Volz and co-authors demonstrate that radioisotopes in the manganese nodules mostly exceed exempt activity levels…

22.05.2023

Science Highlights

The North Pacific Ocean, a key actor for the zinc oceanic cycle

Sieber and his colleagues lift the veil on some of the mechanisms that control the behavior of zinc in the Pacific Ocean, and more globally.

17.05.2023

Science Highlights

Disentangling what controls the cadmium distribution in the Pacific Ocean

Sieber and his colleagues established the distribution of dissolved cadmium concentrations and isotopes in a section extending from Alaska to Tahiti.

16.05.2023

Science Highlights

Solid-solution distribution of the cosmogenic beryllium-7 in the water column

This work questions the validity and limits of the hypothesis that particulate beryllium-7 can be neglected in the oceanographic applications of this tracer.

12.05.2023

Rechercher