Deep silicate content as evidence of renewal processes in the Venezuela Basin, Caribbean Sea

• Published in: Deep Sea Research Part A. Oceanographic Research Papers
• Main Authors: Atwood, Donald K., Froelich, Philip N., Pilson, Michael E.Q., Barcelona, M. J., Vilen, Janice L.
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: DigitalCommons@URI 1979
• Subjects: North Atlantic Deep Water; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/gsofacpubs/2086; https://doi.org/10.1016/0198-0149(79)90062-1

Average dissolved silicate concentrations in waters deeper than 1400 m of the Venezuela Basin (Eastern Caribbean Sea) increase from 27.7 μm in the north to greater than 29.0 μm in the south. Standard deviations of these values (a measure of temporal heterogeneity) decline from 1.8 in the north to 1.0 in the south. These gradients result from sporadic inflow of silicate-poor North Atlantic Deep Water over the Jungfern Sill at the north end of the basin. This inflow lowers the silicate concentrations and increases temporal variability in the north. Mixing of this inflow water southward across the basin causes the observed north-to-south gradients in mean silicate concentrations and in standard deviations about these means. © 1979.