Isotopic Characterization of Water Masses in the Southeast Pacific Region: Paleoceanographic Implications

In this study, we used stable isotopes of oxygen (δ18O), deuterium (δD), and dissolved inorganic carbon (δ13CDIC) in combination with temperature, salinity, oxygen, and nutrient concentrations to characterize the coastal (71°–78°W) and an oceanic (82°–98°W) water masses (SAAW—Subantarctic Surface Wa...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans
Main Authors: Reyes‐Macaya, Dharma, Hoogakker, Babette, Martinez Mendez, Gema, Llanillo, Pedro J, Grasse, Patricia, Mohtadi, Mahyar, Mix, Alan, Leng, Melanie J, Struck, Ulrich, McCorkle, Daniel C, Troncoso, Macarena, Gayo, Eugenia M, Lange, Carina B, Farias, Laura, Carhuapoma, Wilson, Graco, Michelle, Cornejo‐D’Ottone, Marcela, De Pol Holz, Ricardo, Fernandez, Camila, Narvaez, Diego, Vargas, Cristian A, García‐Araya, Francisco, Hebbeln, Dierk
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:unknown
Published: American Geophysical Union (AGU) 2022
Subjects:
Antarctic
Pacific
Antarc*
Online Access:https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/57688/
https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/57688/1/Reyes-Macaya_etal_2021.pdf
https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.da303bed-320d-4852-afdf-0572f39841d1
Description
Summary:In this study, we used stable isotopes of oxygen (δ18O), deuterium (δD), and dissolved inorganic carbon (δ13CDIC) in combination with temperature, salinity, oxygen, and nutrient concentrations to characterize the coastal (71°–78°W) and an oceanic (82°–98°W) water masses (SAAW—Subantarctic Surface Water; STW—Subtropical Water; ESSW—Equatorial Subsurface water; AAIW—Antarctic Intermediate Water; PDW—Pacific Deep Water) of the Southeast Pacific (SEP). The results show that δ18O and δD can be used to differentiate between SAAW-STW, SAAW-ESSW, and ESSW-AAIW. δ13CDIC signatures can be used to differentiate between STW-ESSW (oceanic section), SAAW-ESSW, ESSW-AAIW, and AAIW-PDW. Compared with the oceanic section, our new coastal section highlights differences in both the chemistry and geometry of water masses above 1,000 m. Previous paleoceanographic studies using marine sediments from the SEP continental margin used the present-day hydrological oceanic transect to compare against, as the coastal section was not sufficiently characterized. We suggest that our new results of the coastal section should be used for past characterizations of the SEP water masses that are usually based on continental margin sediment samples.

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