Hafnium and neodymium in surface waters of the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean ...

• Main Authors: Stichel, Torben, Frank, Martin, Rickli, Jörg Dominik, Hathorne, Ed C, Haley, Brian A, Jeandel, Catherine, Pradoux, Catherine
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA 2012
• Subjects: Global marine biogeochemical cycles of trace elements and their isotopes GEOTRACES; Drake Passage; International Polar Year; IPY; Southern Ocean; Weddell Sea
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.1594/pangaea.786906; https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.786906

Radiogenic isotopes of hafnium (Hf) and neodymium (Nd) are powerful tracers for water mass transport and trace metal cycling in the present and past oceans. However, due to the scarcity of available data the processes governing their distribution are not well understood. Here we present the first combined dissolved Hf and Nd isotope and concentration data from surface waters of the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean. The samples were collected along the Zero Meridian, in the Weddell Sea and in the Drake Passage during RV Polarstern expeditions ANT-XXIV/3 and ANT-XXIII/3 in the frame of the International Polar Year (IPY) and the GEOTRACES program. The general distribution of Hf and Nd concentrations in the region is similar. However, at the northernmost station located 200 km southwest of Cape Town a pronounced increase of the Nd concentration is observed, whereas the Hf concentration is minimal, suggesting much less Hf than Nd is released by the weathering of the South African Archean cratonic rocks. From ... : Table 3 (Data from Hegner et al, 2007, doi:10.1029/2007GC001666) can be found at doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.60056 ...