Marine cycling of neodymium in the South Atlantic and the Southern Oceans ...

• Main Author: Wang, Ruixue
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Apollo - University of Cambridge Repository 2021
• Subjects: Neodymium; Neodymium Isotopes; South Atlantic; Southern Ocean; Antarctic; Bellingshausen Sea; The Antarctic; Antarc*; Ice Shelf; South Atlantic Ocean
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.17863/cam.82456; https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/335018

Neodymium (Nd) isotopes have been used as a proxy to trace both modern and palaeo-ocean circulation of the deep ocean which is an important factor controlling the climate. Although there has been widespread utilisation of Nd isotopes as a proxy, the marine cycling of Nd is not fully understood. This thesis investigates the cycling of neodymium, together with other rare earth elements, by determining Nd isotopes in the South Atlantic Ocean and the Southern Oceans, which are critical locations in the global ocean circulation system. It consists of three projects focusing on area of the South Atlantic, the Bellingshausen Sea, and the Antarctic sub-ice shelf cavities, respectively. Measurements on seawater neodymium isotopic composition (ƐNd) and carbon isotopic composition (δ13C) of 40°S transect in the South Atlantic are made to examine the cycling of Nd in this region. The results show that Nd is controlled horizontally by water mass mixing and vertically by reversible scavenging. The "Nd paradox" in the ...