A dissolved cobalt plume in the oxygen minimum zone of the eastern tropical South Pacific

Cobalt is a nutrient to phytoplankton, but knowledge about its biogeochemical cycling is limited, especially in the Pacific Ocean. Here, we report sections of dissolved cobalt and labile dissolved cobalt from the US GEOTRACES GP16 transect in the South Pacific. The cobalt distribution is closely tie...

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Main Authors: Ohnemus, Daniel C., Resing, Joseph A., Twining, Benjamin S., Saito, Mak A., Hawco, Nicholas James
Other Authors: Joint Program in Oceanography/Applied Ocean Science and Engineering
Format: Article
Language:en_US
Published: Copernicus GmbH/European Geosciences Union 2017
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/107816
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5897-0830
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author Ohnemus, Daniel C.
Resing, Joseph A.
Twining, Benjamin S.
Saito, Mak A.
Hawco, Nicholas James
author2 Joint Program in Oceanography/Applied Ocean Science and Engineering
author_facet Joint Program in Oceanography/Applied Ocean Science and Engineering
Ohnemus, Daniel C.
Resing, Joseph A.
Twining, Benjamin S.
Saito, Mak A.
Hawco, Nicholas James
author_sort Ohnemus, Daniel C.
collection MIT
description Cobalt is a nutrient to phytoplankton, but knowledge about its biogeochemical cycling is limited, especially in the Pacific Ocean. Here, we report sections of dissolved cobalt and labile dissolved cobalt from the US GEOTRACES GP16 transect in the South Pacific. The cobalt distribution is closely tied to the extent and intensity of the oxygen minimum zone in the eastern South Pacific with highest concentrations measured at the oxycline near the Peru margin. Below 200 m, remineralization and circulation produce an inverse relationship between cobalt and dissolved oxygen that extends throughout the basin. Within the oxygen minimum zone, elevated concentrations of labile cobalt are generated by input from coastal sources and reduced scavenging at low O2. As these high cobalt waters are upwelled and advected offshore, phytoplankton export returns cobalt to low-oxygen water masses underneath. West of the Peru upwelling region, dissolved cobalt is less than 10 pM in the euphotic zone and strongly bound by organic ligands. Because the cobalt nutricline within the South Pacific gyre is deeper than in oligotrophic regions in the North and South Atlantic, cobalt involved in sustaining phytoplankton productivity in the gyre is heavily recycled and ultimately arrives from lateral transport of upwelled waters from the eastern margin. In contrast to large coastal inputs, atmospheric deposition and hydrothermal vents along the East Pacific Rise appear to be minor sources of cobalt. Overall, these results demonstrate that oxygen biogeochemistry exerts a strong influence on cobalt cycling.
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spelling mit-1721.1/1078162022-10-01T06:18:48Z A dissolved cobalt plume in the oxygen minimum zone of the eastern tropical South Pacific Ohnemus, Daniel C. Resing, Joseph A. Twining, Benjamin S. Saito, Mak A. Hawco, Nicholas James Joint Program in Oceanography/Applied Ocean Science and Engineering Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Hawco, Nicholas James Cobalt is a nutrient to phytoplankton, but knowledge about its biogeochemical cycling is limited, especially in the Pacific Ocean. Here, we report sections of dissolved cobalt and labile dissolved cobalt from the US GEOTRACES GP16 transect in the South Pacific. The cobalt distribution is closely tied to the extent and intensity of the oxygen minimum zone in the eastern South Pacific with highest concentrations measured at the oxycline near the Peru margin. Below 200 m, remineralization and circulation produce an inverse relationship between cobalt and dissolved oxygen that extends throughout the basin. Within the oxygen minimum zone, elevated concentrations of labile cobalt are generated by input from coastal sources and reduced scavenging at low O2. As these high cobalt waters are upwelled and advected offshore, phytoplankton export returns cobalt to low-oxygen water masses underneath. West of the Peru upwelling region, dissolved cobalt is less than 10 pM in the euphotic zone and strongly bound by organic ligands. Because the cobalt nutricline within the South Pacific gyre is deeper than in oligotrophic regions in the North and South Atlantic, cobalt involved in sustaining phytoplankton productivity in the gyre is heavily recycled and ultimately arrives from lateral transport of upwelled waters from the eastern margin. In contrast to large coastal inputs, atmospheric deposition and hydrothermal vents along the East Pacific Rise appear to be minor sources of cobalt. Overall, these results demonstrate that oxygen biogeochemistry exerts a strong influence on cobalt cycling. National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Award OCE-1237011) 2017-04-03T14:06:09Z 2017-04-03T14:06:09Z 2016-10 2016-09 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 1726-4189 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/107816 Hawco, Nicholas J. et al. “A Dissolved Cobalt Plume in the Oxygen Minimum Zone of the Eastern Tropical South Pacific.” Biogeosciences 13.20 (2016): 5697–5717. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5897-0830 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-5697-2016 Biogeosciences Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ application/pdf Copernicus GmbH/European Geosciences Union Copernicus Publications
spellingShingle Ohnemus, Daniel C.
Resing, Joseph A.
Twining, Benjamin S.
Saito, Mak A.
Hawco, Nicholas James
A dissolved cobalt plume in the oxygen minimum zone of the eastern tropical South Pacific
title A dissolved cobalt plume in the oxygen minimum zone of the eastern tropical South Pacific
title_full A dissolved cobalt plume in the oxygen minimum zone of the eastern tropical South Pacific
title_fullStr A dissolved cobalt plume in the oxygen minimum zone of the eastern tropical South Pacific
title_full_unstemmed A dissolved cobalt plume in the oxygen minimum zone of the eastern tropical South Pacific
title_short A dissolved cobalt plume in the oxygen minimum zone of the eastern tropical South Pacific
title_sort dissolved cobalt plume in the oxygen minimum zone of the eastern tropical south pacific
url http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/107816
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5897-0830
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