Charlotte P. Beucher

The changing roles of iron and vertical mixing in regulating nitrogen and silicon cycling in the Southern Ocean over the last glacial cycle

The Southern Ocean plays a critical role in the air-sea CO2 balance through biological and physical mechanisms. Vertical supply of deep waters returns nutrients and CO2 to the surface and stimulates phytoplankton growth. Photosynthesis in the Southern Ocean is limited by iron and only a fraction of the carbon and nutrients that return to the surface are consumed for potential sequestration in the deep sea. Here we present the most spatially extensive data set of silicon and nitrogen isotope measurements from diatom frustules to date to examine the controls on nutrient drawdown during the last glacial period and across the glacial termination in both the Antarctic and Subantarctic zones. The new data confirm existing views that differing silicon and nitrate consumption patterns in the Antarctic zone are likely the result, at least in part, of iron addition during the last glacial maximum (LGM). However, earlier in the glacial, a more coordinated response in the two proxy records, with both reflecting enhanced consumption during episodes of increased iron accumulation and export production, implies a different system response than observed for the LGM. A collapse of the expected equatorward gradient in silicon isotope values and contraction of the nitrogen isotope gradient during the deglaciation suggests that nutrient supply increased not only in the Antarctic Zone, but also in the Subantarctic, perhaps due to enhanced deep mixing locally. Enhanced deep water ventilation across the Southern Ocean likely increased the nutrient content of mode waters during the deglaciation.

Heavy silicon isotopic composition of silicic acid and biogenic silica in Arctic waters over the Beaufort shelf and the Canada Basin

The silicon isotopic composition of silicic acid (δ30Si(OH)4) and biogenic silica (δ30Si-bSiO2) were measured for the first time in marine Arctic waters from the Mackenzie River delta to the deep Canada Basin in the late summer of 2009. In the upper 100 m of the water column, δ30Si(OH)4 signals (+1.82‰ to +3.08‰) were negatively correlated with the relative contribution of Mackenzie River water. The biogenic Si isotope fractionation factor estimated using an open system model, 30e = −0.97 ± 0.17‰, agrees well with laboratory and global-ocean estimates. Nevertheless, the δ30Si dynamics of this region may be better represented by closed system isotope models that yield lower values of 30e, between −0.33‰ and −0.41‰, depending on how the contribution of sea-ice diatoms is incorporated. In the upper 400 m, δ30Si-bSiO2 values were among the heaviest ever measured in marine suspended bSiO2 (+2.03‰ to +3.51‰). A positive correlation between δ30Si-bSiO2 and sea-ice cover implies that heavy signals can result from isotopically heavy sea-ice diatoms introduced to pelagic assemblages. Below the surface bSiO2 production zone, the δ30Si(OH)4 distribution followed that of major water masses. Vertical δ30Si(OH)4 profiles showed a minimum (average of +1.84 ± 0.10‰) in the upper halocline (125–200 m) composed of modified Pacific water and heavier average values (+2.04 ± 0.11‰) in Atlantic water (300–500 m deep). In the Canada Basin Deep Water (below 2000 m), δ30Si(OH)4 averaged +1.88 ± 0.12‰, which represents the most positive value ever measured anywhere in the deep ocean. Since most Si(OH)4 enters the Arctic from shallow depths in the Atlantic Ocean, heavy deep Arctic δ30Si(OH)4 signals likely reflect the influx of relatively heavy intermediate Atlantic waters. A box model simulation of the global marine δ30Si(OH)4 distribution successfully reproduced the observed patterns, with the δ30Si(OH)4 of the simulated deep Arctic Ocean being the heaviest of all deep-ocean basins.