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Reliability of the 231Pa /230Th Activity Ratio as a Tracer for Bioproductivity of the Ocean

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Use of Proxies in Paleoceanography

Abstract

In large areas of the world’s oceans, there is a relationship between the mass flux of particulate matter and the unsupported 231Pa/230Th (xs 231Pa/xs 230Th) activity ratio of recent sediments. This observation forms the basis for using the xs 231Pa/xs 230Th ratio as a proxy for past changes in export productivity. However, a simple relationship between xs 231Pa/xs 230Th ratio and particle flux requires that the water residence time in an ocean basin is far in excess of the scavenging residence time of 231Pa, and that the composition of sinking particles maintains a strong preference for the adsorption of 230Th over 231Pa with a constant 230Th/231Pa fractionation factor (F). The best correlation between 231Pa/ 230Th ratio and mass flux is found in the Pacific Ocean. In the Atlantic, the contrast xs xs’ in the xs 231Pa/xs 230Th ratios between open ocean (low flux regions) and ocean margins (high flux regions) is much less pronounced due to the shorter residence time of deep water, resulting in less effective boundary scavenging of 231Pa. In the Southern Ocean, south of the Polar Front, there is no more a simple relationship between xs 231Pa/xs 230Th and particle flux. This is a result of a southward decrease in F, probably reflecting the increased opal content of sinking particles. Opal does not fractionate 231Pa and 230Th significantly. This lack of fractionation results in high xs 231Pa/xs 230Th ratios in opal-dominated regions, even in areas of very low particle fluxes such as the Weddell Sea. The xs 231Pa/xs 230Th ratio can therefore only be used as a paleoproductivity proxy if, in the time interval of interest, changes in the basin ventilation rate and differential scavenging of both radionuclides due to changes in the chemical composition of particulate matter can be excluded.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Alfred-Wegener-Institut für Polar- und Meeresforschung, Postfach 12 01 61, D-27515, Bremerhaven, Germany

    H.-J. Walter & M. M. Rutgers van der Loeff

  2. Department of Marine Chemistry, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA

    R. François

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  1. H.-J. Walter
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  2. M. M. Rutgers van der Loeff
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  3. R. François
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Correspondence to H.-J. Walter .

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  1. Fachbereich Geowissenschaften, Universität Bremen, Klagenfurter Straße, D-28359, Bremen, Germany

    Gerhard Fischer  & Gerold Wefer  & 

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Walter, HJ., Rutgers van der Loeff, M.M., François, R. (1999). Reliability of the 231Pa /230Th Activity Ratio as a Tracer for Bioproductivity of the Ocean. In: Fischer, G., Wefer, G. (eds) Use of Proxies in Paleoceanography. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-58646-0_15

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-58646-0_15

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