The behavior of rare earth elements in seawater: Precise determination of variations in the North Pacific water column

Journal Article · Fri May 01 04:00:00 EDT 1992 · Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/0016-7037(92)90315-A· OSTI ID:7279501

Piepgrass, D J; Jacobsen, S B ^[1]

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1. Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA (United States)

The authors present new, highly precise and accurate data for ten rare earth elements (REEs) in two water column profiles and in bottom waters from three additional localities in the North Pacific. Results presented here, and in an earlier publication, indicate that the water column in the western North Pacific is stratified with respect to the isotopic composition of Nd as well as Nd/La, Sm/Nd, and Er/La. Both the Nd isotopic and the REE data show that REE transport is strongly influenced by horizontal advection, even in the sluggish circulation of the Pacific. In general, REEs increase in concentration with depth. At mid-latitude, heavy REEs reach a maximum concentration near 3,000 m, whereas light REEs continue to increase in concentration with depth. The deep water maximum and bottom water depletion is interpreted as an advective feature resulting from the flow of a lower concentration of REEs in Antarctic bottom water under a higher concentration of REEs in the North Pacific. Comparison of the REE data to those in previously published reports on Pacific seawater shows that the identification of REE distributions affected by advection is only made possible by the high-precision analysis the authors developed for this study. The Ce-concentration they observed is relatively constant over 200-4,500 m depth at both sites where they have complete profiles. This unique constancy of Ce is in contrast to the contiguous REEs, La, and Nd, which show substantial concentration variations with depth.

• OSTI ID: 7279501
• Journal Information: Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta; (United States), Journal Name: Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta; (United States) Vol. 56:5; ISSN GCACA; ISSN 0016-7037
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
540310* -- Environment
Aquatic-- Basic Studies-- (1990-)
58 GEOSCIENCES
580000 -- Geosciences
ADVECTION
CERIUM
CHEMISTRY
DATA
DEPTH
DIMENSIONS
DISTRIBUTION
DYSPROSIUM
EARTH PLANET
ECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION
ELEMENTS
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
ERBIUM
EUROPIUM
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
GADOLINIUM
GEOCHEMISTRY
INFORMATION
ISOTOPE RATIO
LANTHANUM
LUTETIUM
MASS SPECTROSCOPY
MASS TRANSFER
METALS
NEODYMIUM
NORTHERN HEMISPHERE
NUMERICAL DATA
PACIFIC OCEAN
PLANETS
RARE EARTHS
SAMARIUM
SAMPLE PREPARATION
SAMPLING
SEAS
SEMIMETALS
SILICON
SPECTROSCOPY
STRATIFICATION
SURFACE WATERS
WATER CHEMISTRY
YTTERBIUM