Determination of the copper isotope composition of seawater revisited: A case study from the Mediterranean Sea
International audience A new technique for the determination of dissolved copper isotope composition (delta Cu-65) of seawater was applied to examine copper sources and internal cycling in the Mediterranean Sea along the GEOTRACES GA04N transect. A succession of chelating resin with nitrilotriacetic...
Published in: | Chemical Geology |
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Main Authors: | , , , |
Other Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
HAL CCSD
2019
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://hal.science/hal-02345288 https://hal.science/hal-02345288/document https://hal.science/hal-02345288/file/Baconnais%20et%20al%202019.pdf https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemgeo.2018.09.009 |
Summary: | International audience A new technique for the determination of dissolved copper isotope composition (delta Cu-65) of seawater was applied to examine copper sources and internal cycling in the Mediterranean Sea along the GEOTRACES GA04N transect. A succession of chelating resin with nitrilotriacetic acid functional groups and strong base anion exchange resin, together with optimization of the multi-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry set-up allowed to isolate copper from seawater matrix and to measure the Cu-65/Cu-63 ratios in seawater with an external precision of 0.06% (2 s.d.). This method was first applied for inter-comparison measurements to surface and deep waters sampled at the Bermuda Atlantic Time-Series station (BATS) in the North Atlantic Ocean during the GEOTRACES Intercalibration Cruise 1. Disparities in delta Cu-65 reported here and in the literature over these samples showed a need to investigate whether a new inter-comparison sample should be decided upon, or whether the use of UV-oxidation can also affect the measurement of delta Cu-65. We also measured total dissolved Cu concentration ([dCu](T)) and delta Cu-65 for 12 stations in the Mediterranean Sea. The delta Cu-65 distribution showed significant variations in the euphotic zone, at the Chl a maximum and at bottom depths. Copper isotope ratios ranged from +0.21% to +0.76% (+/- 0.06%, 2 s.d.), yielding an average of + 0.51% (+/- 0.20%, 2 s.d.; n = 96) for the Mediterranean Sea. A strong zonation between natural aerosol deposition to the South and anthropogenic aerosol deposition to the North was seen in the sample set (Dulaquais et al. 2017; Gerringa et al. 2017; Rolison et al. 2015). Natural dust deposits seemed to draw delta Cu-65 toward lower values and deeper in the euphotic zone whereas the impact of anthropogenic aerosols seemed restricted to an increase in [dCu](T). At the Chl a maximum, delta Cu-65 showed significant increase which we attributed to scavenging on and/or uptake by phytoplankton. The isotope signature ... |
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