The distribution and speciation of copper across different biogeochemical regimes ...

• Main Author: Jacquot, Jeremy E. author
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: University of Southern California Digital Library (USC.DL) 2013
• Subjects: Marine and Environmental Biology degree program; Doctor of Philosophy degree; College of Letters, Arts and Sciences school; Pacific; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c3-334086; https://digitallibrary.usc.edu/asset-management/2A3BF1LJ738M

Copper (Cu) is an essential micronutrient that functions as a cofactor in many important enzymatically-mediated pathways including denitrification, methane oxidation and ammonia oxidation. Yet it can also be a potent toxicant, inhibiting phytoplankton reproduction and growth rates, at picomolar-level concentrations. In natural waters, over 99.9% of dissolved Cu is complexed by strong organic ligands of biological origin. As a result, concentrations of the bioavailable fraction, Cu�?, are often over a thousand-fold lower (~10?�? ? 10?�� mol L?�) than dissolved Cu concentrations. The two main controls on the distribution of dissolved Cu, and Cu�? by extension, are organic complexation and scavenging by particles and biological processes. This thesis examines the distribution and speciation of Cu in the North Atlantic and eastern tropical South Pacific (ETSP) Oceans and in Hood Canal, an estuary in Puget Sound, WA, to better understand how regimes with very distinct biogeochemistries influence Cu cycling. It ...