Nickel, cadmium, and copper in the northeast Pacific off the coast of Washington1,2

Abstract

The distributions of nickel, cadmium, and copper have been determined in northeast Pacific waters off the coast of Washington. Nickel concentrations average 5.5 nmol.kg-l at the surface and 10 nmol.kg-L in deep water. Although nickel shows a dual covariance with phosphate and dissolved silicon, a strong concentration gradient away from the coast cannot be explained by variations in the nutrient concentrations alone; an additional source in the sediments is suggested. The geochemistry of cadmium is controlled by the biological cycling of organic matter. Concentrations are depleted to levels of 0.1 nmol.kg-l at the surface but increase to a maximum of 1.27 nmolakg-l at the depth of the phosphate and nitrate maxima. Cd-phosphate and Cd-nitrate correlations are significantly different in nearshore and offshore waters. Copper shows no correlation with the nutrients. An apparent surface maximum may result from the upwelling and offshore advection of Cu-rich shelf water. Copper is rapidly stripped from subsurface waters but is then returned to bottom waters via a flux of dissolved copper from the sediments.

Using 67Cu to Study the Biogeochemical Cycling of Copper in the Northeast Subarctic Pacific Ocean

“…Total dissolved Cu varied 1.9-fold across the transect (1.5-2.8 nM). These values are similar to surface water [Cu] d previously measured along Line P (1.2-3.5 nM; Martin et al, 1989;Semeniuk et al, 2009), in the North Pacific (0.6-3.5 nmol kg −1 ) (Boyle et al, 1977;Coale and Bruland, 1988), northwest subarctic Pacific and Bering Sea (1.2-2 nM) (Moffett and Dupont, 2007), and in Washington coastal waters south of the Line P transect (1.86-5.25 nmol kg −1 ) (Jones and Murray, 1984).…”

“…Upwelling begins at these stations by March, due to Ekman pumping as the California and Alaska currents bifurcate along the British Columbia coast (Thomson, 1981;Foreman et al, 2011). Intermediate waters (250-500 m) off the coast of Washington are enriched in Cu (2-3 nM) relative to surface waters (Jones and Murray, 1984). Upwelling of these waters could account for the observed enrichment of [Cu] d at P3 and P4.…”

Cadmium, copper and iron in the Scotia Sea, Weddell Sea and Weddell/Scotia Confluence (Antarctica)

“…Olafsson, 1983;Bruland and Franks, 1983;Danielsson and Westerlund, 1983;Yeats and Campbell, 1983;Jones and Murray, 1984;Matsunaga and Abe, 1985;Sakamoto-Arnold et al, 1987). At any given station the relation between Cd and phosphate is usually very strong, and often there is a breakthrough between surface waters and deep waters (Boyle, 1988).…”

Heavy metal incorporation in foraminiferal calcite: results from multi-element enrichment culture experiments with <i>Ammonia tepida</i>

“…Of these, Mn occurs at lowest concentration in the North Sea water we used (see Table 1). All of these metals seem to be essential for the growth of primary producers and exhibit a nutrient-type distribution or a hybrid distribution (a combination of nutrienttype and scavenged-type distributions) in the oceans (Jones and Murray, 1984;Bruland and Lohan, 2004;Morel et al, 2004). Although well below concentrations generally considered toxic (e.g.…”