Fingerprinting Northeast Atlantic water masses using Neodymium isotopes

• Published in: Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta
• Main Authors: Dubois-Dauphin, Quentin, Colin, Christophe, Bonneau, Lucile, Montagna, Paolo, Wu, Qiong, van Rooij, David, Reverdin, Gilles, Douville, Éric, Thil, François, Waldner, Astrid, Frank, Norbert
• Other Authors: Géosciences Paris Sud (GEOPS), Université Paris-Sud - Paris 11 (UP11)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Universität Heidelberg Heidelberg = Heidelberg University, Istituto di Science Marine (ISMAR ), National Research Council of Italy, State Key Laboratory of Marine Geology Shanghai, Tongji University, RCMG Ghent, Universiteit Gent = Ghent University (UGENT), Interactions et Processus au sein de la couche de Surface Océanique (IPSO), Laboratoire d'Océanographie et du Climat : Expérimentations et Approches Numériques (LOCEAN), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace (IPSL (FR_636)), École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace (IPSL (FR_636)), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement Gif-sur-Yvette (LSCE), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Direction de Recherche Fondamentale (CEA) (DRF (CEA)), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA), Géochrononologie Traceurs Archéométrie (GEOTRAC), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Direction de Recherche Fondamentale (CEA) (DRF (CEA)), ANR-10-LABX-0018,L-IPSL,LabEx Institut Pierre Simon Laplace (IPSL): Understand climate and anticipate future changes(2010), ANR-06-BLAN-0146,NEWTON,NORTH-EST ATLANTIC WATER MASS GEOCHEMICAL TRACERS DURING THE PAST 60 YEARS AND BEYOND(2006), ANR-13-BS06-0003,HAMOC,Dynamique des gyres Nord Atlantique et overturning de la Méditerranée au cours des changements climatiques de l'Holocène(2013)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2017
• Subjects: gyre circulation; hydrology; Alboran Sea; Northeast Atlantic; Gulf of Cádiz; Nd isotopic composition; seawater; [SDU]Sciences of the Universe [physics]; Antarc*; Antarctic; Iceland; north atlantic current; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-01507172; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2017.04.002

International audience Dissolved neodymium (Nd) isotopic composition (expressed as εNd) has been analysed for 82 seawater samples collected from 13 stations stretching from the Alboran Sea to the Iceland Basin. The distribution of the εNd values of water masses was thus investigated for the first time along the western European margin in order to explore whether the water masses flowing in the eastern subpolar and subtropical Atlantic reveal distinct isotopic patterns. The Modified Atlantic Water (MAW) in the Alboran Sea displays εNd values (between -9.2±0.2 and -8.9±0.2) that are significantly more radiogenic than those reported in previous studies (-10.8±0.2 to -9.7±0.2), suggesting temporal variations in the Nd isotopic composition of the water that enters the Mediterranean Sea from the Strait of Gibraltar. The εNd value of the underlying modified Winter Intermediate Water (WIW) has been established for the first time (-9.8±0.3) and is compatible with a Nd signature acquired from the sinking of MAW in the northwestern Mediterranean Sea. Within the Gulf of Cádiz, southern Mediterranean Sea Water (MSW) (-10.6±0.2) differs slightly from the northern MSW (-9.9±0.4) owing to a significant contribution of modified East Antarctic Intermediate Water (EAAIW) (-10.9±0.2). In the northeast Atlantic, the North Atlantic Current surface water located in the inter-gyre region (north of 46°N) displays εNd values of between -14.0±0.3 and -15.1±0.3, reflecting the subpolar gyre signature. Along the western European margin, εNd values of surface water decrease toward the north (from -10.4±1.6 to -13.7±1.0) in agreement with the gradual mixing between subtropical and subpolar water. At intermediate depth, εNd values decrease from -9.9±0.4 within the Gulf of Cádiz to -12.1±0.3 within the Porcupine Seabight, indicating a strong dilution of the MSW with subpolar water. Within the Rockall Trough and the Iceland Basin, the more negative εNd values at mid-depth (< -13.5±0.3) indicate that the MSW has no influence, even during ...