Chemostratigraphy and source of mercury in the Tropical Western Pacific over the past 600 kyr

Pei, Wenlong; Wang, Xinling; Wang, Jiayue; Zhang, Rui; Li, Tiegang; Russell, James M.; Zhang, Fan; Yu, Xiaoxiao; Li, Yong; Guan, Minglei; Han, Qi

doi:10.1016/j.seares.2023.102369

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

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“…Global and regional climatic factors such as productivity, sea ice cover, river discharge, sealevel changes, and precipitation patterns, also can control its dynamic in different environments 9 . A similar change in paleo-production rates and Hg sources was recorded in sediment cores of the tropical Western Paci c 10 , characterized by glacial-interglacial variation. Volcanic eruptions and other geological events are considered the main reason responsible for signi cant and anomalous increases in Hg concentration in sediment before the industrial revolution [11][12][13] .…”

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confidence: 65%

Sources of mercury varied in the Mariana Trench during the Last Glacial Maximum to the Holocene

Zhou,

Wang,

Xin

et al. 2024

Preprint

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The Mariana Trench, is one of the ultimate sinks of the earth’ system, providing unique insights to matter cycling and environmental evolution. Trench sediments receive mercury (Hg) from the upper ocean and constitute a global Hg sink. However, little is known about the variation in the Hg cycle that have been driven by geological or environmental changes prior to human activity. Here we present results covering concentrations and isotopic signatures of Hg in the deepest trench system to identify the evolution of Hg cycling in trenches before the Anthropocene. Sediment cores collected from the Mariana Trench showed values for mass independent fractionation (Δ199Hg) of > 0 with ratios of Δ199Hg/Δ201Hg close to 1.0, suggesting that Hg in this system was primarily subjected to atmospheric or water column photochemical processes prior to deposition. Geological proxies and isotopic compositions (δ202Hg: -4.2‰ to -4.5‰, Δ199Hg: 0.28‰ to 0.29‰) comparable only in volcanoes reveal that Hg contents coinciding with the transition from the last glacial termination to the early Holocene can predominantly be attributed to volcanic activity. During the Holocene, atmospheric Hg constituted the main source of Hg in the Mariana Trench, while the last glacial maximum was characterized by an accumulation of both atmospheric and biogenic Hg.

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