Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
5783139 | Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta | 2017 | 14 Pages |
Abstract
The thorium isotope ratio 232Th/230Th can be measured in seawater and sediment samples, and has been used as a proxy to reconstruct lithogenic fluxes to the oceans for the modern day and the Pleistocene. There has not yet been a systematic study testing the proxy using the 232Th/230Th ratio in seawater and the ratio recorded in the underlying sediment. In this study we use co-located core-top sediments and seawater samples from five seamount sites spanning the tropical North Atlantic to investigate the link between seawater and sediment 232Th/230Th ratios across a range of water depths. Our results indicate that a broad correlation exists between seawater and sedimentary 232Th/230Th ratios. Both seawater and sedimentary 232Th/230Th ratios record a signal consistent with decreasing lithogenic input east to west, from Africa to South America. However, calculated 232Th fluxes for the core-top sediment samples indicate a strong dependence on depth, with up to a factor of â¼4 difference from shallow (<600 m) to deep sites (>2900 m). This depth dependence is likely caused by either a deficit of 230Th burial at depth compared to the production in the overlying water column, through addition of 232Th, or by a combination of the two. By comparing seawater and sedimentary 232Th/230Th ratios we derive an apparent fractional solubility of 232Th of 29 ± 3%, in reasonable agreement with the upper end of existing estimates.
Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering
Earth and Planetary Sciences
Geochemistry and Petrology
Authors
George H. Rowland, Hong Chin Ng, Laura F. Robinson, Jerry F. McManus, Kais J. Mohamed, David McGee,