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Transfer of Particles into the Deep Atlantic and the Global Ocean: Control of Nutrient Supply and Ballast Production

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The South Atlantic in the Late Quaternary

Abstract

Particle fluxes from 20 trap sites in the Atlantic/Southern Ocean have been compiled to study the regional variations in comparison with important environmental variables. In turn, these results have been compared to other study sites from the world ocean, mainly regarding the relations-hip between bulk fluxes/various flux ratios to nutrient supply. It is shown that the supply of dissolved silicic acid to the surface waters (the ‘silicate pump’, Dugdale et al. 1995) plays a central role in opal fluxes, BSi:Corg ratios, BSi:carbonate ratios, and thus carbon rain ratios. The mean annual BSi:Corg ratio (mol/mol) normalized to 1000 m was 0.05 in the Atlantic, 0.4 in the Indian, 0.5 in the Pacific, and 0.1–3 in the Southern Ocean and follow s the general path of the conveyor belt (Ragueneau et al. 2000). A shift in the primary producer community from coccolithophorids to diatoms, reflected by an exponential increase of the annual BSi:carbonate flux ratios, occurs above a molar Si:N(250m) nutrient threshold of about 1.7. The surface sediment opal:carbonate ratios (%) versus the Si:N(250m) nutrient values produce a threshold of 2–2.5, however, this value may be biased by opal dissolution during early diagenesis. We also tested the most recent findings about particle ballast which presume that carbonate is most important for the rapid downward transport of organic particles to bathypelagic depths. Our compilation of global flux data confirms such a general relationship. However, at certain sites and in particular years /seasons, other minerals may serve as ballast for organic carbon. Off NW Africa, for instance, lithogenic components were the major particle carriers. There, relationships between carbonate/lithogenic/total ballast fluxes versus daily organic carbon fluxes may even vary from year to year. Off Cape Blanc, the carbonate-Corg-relationship is highly significant during a strong coccolithophorid bloom in 1991, probably resulting in an efficient downward transfer of organic carbon. Interannual variation of fluxes was highest in high production systems combined with high seasonality of fluxes. We obtained ca. 20% variability in oligotrophic regions and up to 100% in the Southern Ocean where seasonality is most pronounced.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Universität Bremen, Fachbereich Geowissenschaften, Klagenfurter Strasse, 28359, Bremen, Germany

    G. Fischer, G. Wefer, O. Romero, V. Ratmeyer & B. Donner

  2. Institute Universitaire Européen de la Mer, Technopôle Brest-Iroise, Place Nicolas Copernic, F-29280, Plouzané, France

    N. Dittert

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  1. G. Fischer
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  2. G. Wefer
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  3. O. Romero
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  4. N. Dittert
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  5. V. Ratmeyer
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  6. B. Donner
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  1. DFG Research Center Ocean Margins, University of Bremen, Klagenfurter Straße, 28359, Bremen, Germany

    Gerold Wefer , Stefan Mulitza  & Volker Ratmeyer ,  & 

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Fischer, G., Wefer, G., Romero, O., Dittert, N., Ratmeyer, V., Donner, B. (2003). Transfer of Particles into the Deep Atlantic and the Global Ocean: Control of Nutrient Supply and Ballast Production. In: Wefer, G., Mulitza, S., Ratmeyer, V. (eds) The South Atlantic in the Late Quaternary. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-18917-3_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-18917-3_2

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