[en] We present barium data for sediment traps deployed in a northeast Atlantic margin environment (Bay of Biscay). Fluxes of excess barium were measured with the objective of calculating carbon export production rates from the surface mixed layer and thus contribute to the understanding of organic carbon transport in a margin environment. Therefore, it was necessary to properly understand the different processes that affected the barium fluxes in this margin environment. Seasonal variability of POC/Ba flux ratios and decrease of barium solubilisation in the trap cups with increasing depth in the water column probably indicate that the efficiency of barite formation in the organic micro-environment varies with season and that the process is relatively slow and not yet completed in the upper 600 m of water column. Thus barite presence in biogenic aggregates will significantly depend on water column transit time of these aggregates. Furthermore, it was observed that significant lateral input of excess-Ba can occur, probably associated with residual currents leaving the margin. This advected excess-Ba affected especially the recorded fluxes in the deeper traps (>1000 m) of the outer slope region. We have attempted to correct for this advected excess-Ba component, using Th (reported by others for the same samples) as an indicator of enhanced lateral flux and assigning a characteristic Ba/Th ratio to advected material, Using transfer functions relating excess-Ba flux with export production characteristic of margin areas, observed Ba fluxes indicate an export production between 7 and 18 g C m(-2) yr(-1). Such values are 3-7 times lower than estimates based on N-nutrient uptake and nutrient mass balances, but larger and more realistic than is obtained when a transfer function characteristic of open ocean systems is applied. The discrepancy between export production estimates based on excess-Ba fluxes and nutrient uptake could be resolved if part of the carbon is exported as dissolved organic matter. Results suggest that margin systems function differently from open ocean systems, and therefore Ba-proxy rationales developed for open ocean sites might not be applicable in margin areas. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Disciplines :
Earth sciences & physical geography
Author, co-author :
Dehairs, F.
Fagel, Nathalie ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département de géologie > Argiles, géochimie et environnements sédimentaires
Antia, A.
Peinert, R.
Elskens, M.
Goeyens, L.
Language :
English
Title :
Export production in the Bay of Biscay as estimated from barium - barite in settling material: a comparison with new production
Publication date :
2000
Journal title :
Deep-Sea Research. Part I, Oceanographic Research Papers
ISSN :
0967-0637
eISSN :
1879-0119
Publisher :
Pergamon Press - An Imprint of Elsevier Science, Oxford, United Kingdom
Antia, A.N., Bodungen, B. von., Peinert, R., 1999b. Particle flux across the mid-European continental margin. Deep-Sea Research, in press.
Antia, A.N., Barlow, R., Cummings, C., Mantoura, R.F.C., 1999a. Seasonal variability in surface abundance and flux of algal pigments at the Northeast Atlantic Margin, Deep-Sea Research, submitted for publication.
Antia, A.N., Maasen, J., Hermann, P., Vos, M., Scholten, I., Groom, S., Miller, P., 1999c. Spatial and qualitative patterns of particle flux at the European continental margin: the OMEX I project. Deep-Sea Research, submitted for publication.
Bacon M.P. Evaluation of sediment traps with naturally occurring radionuclides. Ittekkot V., Schäfer P., Honjo S., Depetris P.J. Particle Fluxes in the Ocean, SCOPE. 1996;85-90 Wiley, New York.
Bernstein R.E., Byrne R.H., Betzer P.R., Greco A.M. Morphologies and transformations of celestite in seawater: the role of Acantharians in strontium and barium geochemistry. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. 56:1992;3273-3279.
Bishop J.K.B. The barite-opal-organic carbon association in oceanic particulate matter. Nature. 332:1988;341-343.
Bishop, J.K.B., Regional extremes in particulate matter composition and flux: effects on the chemistry of the ocean interior. In: Berger, W.H., Smetacek, V.S., Wefer, G., 1988b. Productivity of the Ocean: Present and Past. Willey, New York, pp. 117-137.
Bishop, J.K.B, Collier, R.W., Kettens, D.R., Edmond, J.M., 1980. The chemistry, biology, and vertical flux of particulate matter from the upper 1500 m of the Panama Basin. Deep-Sea Research 27A, 615-640.
Bodungen von, Wunsch, M., Füderer, H., 1991. Sampling and analysis of suspended and sinking particles in the northern North Atlantic, In: Hurd, D.C., Spencer, D.W., (Eds.), Marine Particles: Analysis and Characterization. American Geophysical Union, Geophysical Monograph 63, pp. 47-56.
Boyle E.A. The role of vertical chemical fractionation in controlling late quaternary atmospheric carbon dioxide. Journal of Geophysical Research. 93:1988;15701-15714.
Bowen, H.J.M., 1979. Environmental Chemistry of the Elements. Academic Press, London, 333pp.
Chow T.J., Goldberg E.D. On the marine geochemistry of barium. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. 20:1960;192-198.
Church, T.M., 1970. Marine barite. Ph.D. Thesis, University of California, San Diego, 100pp.
Church T.M., Wolgemuth K. Marine barite saturation. Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 15:1972;35-44.
Dehairs F., Baeyens W., Goeyens L. Accumulation of suspended barite at mesopelagic depths and export production in the Southern Ocean. Science. 258:1992;1332-1335.
Dehairs F., Chesselet R., Jedwab J. Discrete suspended particles of barite and the barium cycle in the open ocean. Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 49:1980;528-550.
Dehairs F., Goeyens L., Stroobants N., Bernard P., Goyet C., Poisson A., Chesselet R. On suspended barite and the oxygen-minimum in the Southern Ocean. Global Biogeochemical Cycles. 4:1990;85-102.
Dehairs F., Shopova D., Ober S., Veth C., Goeyens L. Particulate barium stocks and oxygen consumption in the Southern Ocean mesopelagic water column during spring and early summer. relationship with export production Deep-Sea Research II. 44:1997;497-516.
Dehairs F., Stroobants N., Goeyens L. Suspended barite as a tracer of biological activity in the Southern Ocean. Marine Chemistry. 35:1991;399-410.
Dymond J., Collier R. Particulate barium fluxes and their relationships to biological productivity. Deep-Sea Research II. 43:1996;1283-1308.
Dymond J., Collier R., Mc Manus J., Honjo S., Manganini S. Can the aluminium and titanium contents of ocean sediments be used to determine the paleoproductivity of the oceans? Paleoceanography. 12:1997;586-593.
Dymond J., Suess E., Lyle M. Barium in deep-sea sediment. a geochemical proxy for paleoproductivity Paleoceanography. 7:1992;163-181.
Fagel, N., André, L., Dehairs, F., 1999. Advective excess Ba transport as shown from sediment and trap geochemical signatures. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, in press.
Francois R., Honjo S., Manganini S.J., Ravizza G.E. Biogenic barium fluxes to the deep sea: implications for paleoproductivity reconstruction. Global Biogeochemical Cycles. 9:1995;289-303.
Frank, M., 1996. Reconstruction of late quaternary environmental conditions applying the natural radionuclides 230Th , 10Be , 231Pa and 238U : a study of deep-sea sediments from the eastern sector of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current system. Berichte zur Polarforschung. Alfred Wegener Institute für Polar und Meeresforschung, vol. 186, pp. 136.
Gingele F., Dahmke A. Discrete barite particles and barium as tracers of paleoproductivity in South Atlantic sediments. Paleoceanography. 9:1994;151-168.
Jeandel C., Dupré B., Lebaron G., Monnin C., Minster J.-F. Longitudinal distributions of dissolved barium, silica and alkalinity in the western and southern Indian Ocean. Deep-Sea Research I. 43:1996;1-31.
Joint, I., Wollast, R., Chou, L., Batten, S., Elskens, M., Edwards, E., Hirst, A., Burkill, P., Groom, S., Gibb, S., Miller, A., Hydes, D., Dehairs, F., Antia, A., Barlow, R., Rees, A., Pomroy, A., Brockmann, U., Cummings, D., Lampitt, R., Loijens, M., Mantoura, F., Miller, P., Raabe, T., Salgado, X., Stelfox, C., Woolfenden, J., 1999. Pelagic Production at the Celtic Sea shelf break. A synthesis of results obtained in the OMEX I project. Deep-Sea Research II, submitted for publication.
Lampitt R.S., Wishner K.F., Turley C.M., Angel M.V. Marine Snow Studies in the Northeast Atlantic: distribution, composition and role as a food source for migrating plankton. Marine Biology. 116:1993;689-702.
McCave, I.N., Antia, A., Bodungen, B. von., Chou, L., Dehairs, F., Hall, I.R., Lampitt, R.S., Peinert, R., Thomsen, L., Stigter, H. de., Weering, T.C.E. van., Wollast, R., 1999. Sources, distribution, composition and flux of suspended particulate material on the European margin 47-50 N: a synthesis of results from the OMEX I program. Deep-Sea Research I, submitted for publication.
Monnin C., Galinier C. The solubility of celestite and barite in electrolyte solutions and natural waters at 25°C: a thermodynamic study. Chemical Geology. 71:1988;283-296.
Monnin C., Jeandel C., Cattaldo T., Dehairs F. The marine barite saturation state of the World Ocean. Marine Chemistry. 65:1999;253-261.
Murray R.W., Leinen M. Scavenged excess aluminium and its relationship to bulk titanium in biogenic sediment from the central equatorial Pacific Ocean. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. 60:1996;3869-3878.
Nürnberg C.C. Bariumfluss und Sedimentation im südlichen Südatlantik - Hinweise auf Produktivitätsänderungen im Quartär. Geomar Report. 38:1995;105.
Nürnberg C.C., Bohrmann G., Schlüter M., Frank M. Barium accumulation in the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean: Results from 190,000 year records. Paleoceanography. 12:1997;594-603.
Paytan A., Kastner M., Chavez F.P. Glacial to interglacial fluctuations in productivity in the Equatorial Pacific as indicated by marine barite. Science. 274:1996;1355-1357.
Peinert R., von Bodungen B., Smetacek V.S. Food web structure and loss rate. Berger W.H., Smetacek V.S., Wefer G. Productivity of the Ocean: Present and Past. 1989;35-48 Wiley, New York.
Sarnthein M., Winn K., Duplessy J.-C., Fontugne M.R. Global variations of surface ocean productivity in low and mid latitudes: Influence on CO2 reservoirs of the deep ocean and atmosphere during the last 21,000 years. Paleoceanography. 3:1988;361-399.
Stroobants N., Dehairs F., Goeyens L., Vanderheijden N., van Grieken R. Barite formation in the Southern Ocean water column. Marine Chemistry. 35:1991;411-422.
Turekian K.K., Tausch E.H. Barium in deep-sea sediments of the Atlantic Ocean. Nature. 201:1964;696-697.
Von Breymann, M., Emeis, K.-C., Suess, E., 1992. Water depth and diagenetic constraints on the use of barium as a paleoproductivity indicator. In: Upwelling Systems: Evolution since the early Miocene. Geological Society Special Publication No. 64, pp. 273-284.
Wollast R., Chou L. Distribution and fluxes of calcium carbonate along the continental margin in the Gulf of Biscay. Aquatic Geochemistry. 4:1998;369-393.