Oceanographic Distributions of Cadmium, Zinc, Nickel and Copper in the North Pacific

Vertical profiles of Cd, Zn, Ni, and Cu have been determined at three stations in the North Pacific and in the surface waters on a transect from Hawaii to Monterey, California. The distributions found are oceanographically consistent and provide a needed confirmation and extension of several recent studies on the marine geochemistries of these metals. Cadmium concentrations average 1.4 pmol/kg in surface waters of the central North Pacific and show a strong correlation with the labile nutrients, phosphate and nitrate, increasing to values of 1.1 nmol/kg at depths corresponding to the phosphate maximum. Zinc is depleted in surface waters of the central gyre to an average value of 0.07 nmol/kg and increases to a deep maximum of 9 nmol/kg exhibiting a strong correlation with the nutrient silicate. Nickel concentrations average 2.1 nmol/kg in surface central gyre waters and increase to a deep maximum of 11 nmol/kg. Nickel is best correlated with a combination of phosphate and silicate. Copper averages less than 0.5 nmol/kg in surface waters of the central North Pacific and increases gradually to values of 5 nmol/kg in bottom waters. The Cu profiles show evidence of intermediate and deep water scavenging. The involvement of these metals in the internal biogeochemical cycles of the sea is responsible for their distributions which are predictable on the basis of oceanographic parameters.

Publisher - Elsevier

Subjects - Chemical, Cadmium; Chemical, Copper; Chemical, Nickel; Chemical, Zinc

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Citation: Bruland KW. 1980. Oceanographic Distributions of Cadmium, Zinc, Nickel and Copper in the North Pacific. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett.; 47(2):176-198