Publication Date:
2018-11-16
Description:
The availability of the micronutrient iron (Fe) in surface waters determines primary production, N2 fixation and microbial community structure in large parts of the world's ocean, and thus plays an important role in ocean carbon and nitrogen cycles. Eastern boundary upwelling systems and the connected oxygen minimum zones (OMZs) are typically associated with elevated concentrations of redox-sensitive trace metals (e.g. Fe, manganese (Mn) and cobalt (Co)), with shelf sediments typically forming a key source. Over the last five decades, an expansion and intensification of OMZs has been observed and this trend is likely to proceed. However, it is unclear how trace metal (TM) distributions and transport are influenced by decreasing oxygen (O2) concentrations. Here we present dissolved (d; 0.2 μm) TM data collected at 7 stations along a 50 km transect in the Mauritanian shelf region. We observed enhanced concentrations of Fe, Co and Mn corresponding with low O2 concentrations (
Print ISSN:
1810-6277
Electronic ISSN:
1810-6285
Topics:
Biology
,
Geosciences