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Title: Accumulation of Fe oxyhydroxides in the Peruvian oxygen deficient zone implies non-oxygen dependent Fe oxidation

Journal Article · · Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta
 [1];  [1];  [2];  [1];  [1];  [3];  [4]
  1. Univ. of California, Santa Cruz, CA (United States). Department of Ocean Sciences
  2. Univ. of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA (United States). Marine Environmental Biology, Department of Biological Sciences
  3. University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, St. Paul, MN (United States). Department of Soil, Water, and Climate
  4. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Advanced Light Source (ALS)

Oxygen minimum zones (OMZs) have been proposed to be an important source of dissolved iron (Fe) into the interior ocean. However, previous studies in OMZs have shown a sharp decrease in total dissolved Fe (dFe) and/or dissolved Fe(II) (dFe(II)) concentrations at the shelf-break, despite constant temperature, salinity and continued lack of oxygen across the shelf-break. The loss of both total dFe and dFe(II) suggests a conversion of the dFe to particulate form, but studies that have coupled the reduction-oxidation (redox) speciation of both dissolved and particulate phases have not previously been done. Here in this work, we have measured the redox speciation and concentrations of both dissolved and particulate forms of Fe in samples collected during the U.S. GEOTRACES Eastern tropical Pacific Zonal Transect (EPZT) cruise in 2013 (GP16). This complete data set allows us to assess possible mechanisms for loss of dFe. We observed an offshore loss of dFe(II) within the oxygen deficient zone (ODZ), where dissolved oxygen is undetectable, accompanied by an increase in total particulate Fe (pFe). Total pFe concentrations were highest in the upper ODZ. X-ray absorption spectroscopy revealed that the pFe maximum was primarily in the Fe(III) form as Fe(III) oxyhydroxides. The remarkable similarity in the distributions of total particulate iron and nitrite suggests a role for nitrite in the oxidation of dFe(II) to pFe(III). Lastly, we present a conceptual model for the rapid redox cycling of Fe that occurs in ODZs, despite the absence of oxygen.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
1436158
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1550047
Journal Information:
Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, Vol. 211, Issue C; ISSN 0016-7037
Publisher:
The Geochemical Society; The Meteoritical SocietyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 50 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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The role of water masses in shaping the distribution of redox active compounds in the Eastern Tropical North Pacific oxygen deficient zone and influencing low oxygen concentrations in the eastern Pacific Ocean journal February 2020
Synchrotron hard X-ray chemical imaging of trace element speciation in heterogeneous samples: development of criteria for uncertainty analysis journal January 2020
Paleoenvironmental proxies and what the Xiamaling Formation tells us about the mid‐Proterozoic ocean journal March 2019
Dissolved trace metal concentrations from a GO-FLO rosette collected during the R/V Thomas G. Thompson cruise TN303 from Peru to Tahiti in 2013 (U.S. GEOTRACES EPZT project) dataset January 2020
H2S events in the Peruvian oxygen minimum zone facilitate enhanced dissolved Fe concentrations journal August 2018
Ventilation Pathways for the North Pacific Oxygen Deficient Zone journal July 2019
Dissolved Fe(II) from the southbound leg of the US GEOTRACES Arctic cruise (HLY1502) on USCGC Healy from August to October 2015 dataset January 2020
Synchrotron hard X-ray chemical imaging of trace element speciation in heterogeneous samples: Development of criteria for uncertainty analysis text January 2020
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