Neodymium isotopes as a new tool for quantifying exchange fluxes at the continent-ocean interface

Continental margins are, via river sediment discharges, the major source of a number of elements to the ocean. They are also, for several reactive elements, sites of preferential removal from the water column, due to enhanced scavenging [1] [M.P. Bacon, Tracers of chemical scavenging in the ocean: Boundary effects and large-scale chemical fractionation, Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond., A 325 (1988) 147-160.]. They can therefore be understood as sources of elements for the ocean, sinks or both. Although exchanges of matter are suspected to occur at the continent/ocean interface [2] [P.H. Santschi, L. Guo, I.D. Walsh, M.S. Quigley, M. Baskaran, Boundary exchange and scavenging of radionuclides in continental margin waters of the Middle Atlantic Bight: implications for organic carbon fluxes, Cont. Shelf Res. 19 (1999) 609-636.] and despite their probable importance for the ocean chemistry, closed budgets have still yet to be determined. Here, based on neodymium isotopic composition data obtained during the past 6 yr, we document and quantify significant neodymium exchange at ocean boundaries, in areas covering a large spectra of hydrographical, biological and geochemical characteristics : Eastern Indian Ocean, Western Equatorial Pacific, Western Tropical Pacific and Northwestern Atlantic, with neodymium removal fluxes accounting for 74±23%, 100±38%, 62±54% and 84±45% of the neodymium input fluxes, respectively. Recognition of boundary exchange and its potential globalization have important implications for (1) our understanding of margin/ocean interactions and their influence on the oceanic isotopic chemistry, and (2) geochemical cycling of reactive elements (including pollutants) at ocean margins.