Greenland ice cores constrain glacial atmospheric fluxes of phosphorus

Abstract

Phosphorus is a limiting nutrient for primary productivity, but little is known about past atmospheric fluxes to the open ocean. In this study, phosphate and phosphorus concentrations have been determined in the North Greenland Eemian Ice Drilling Project ice core for selected periods during the last glacial. Phosphate was determined continuously by using a molybdenum blue spectroscopic absorption method and discretely using an ion chromatograph. Total P was determined discretely using an inductively coupled plasma sector field mass spectrometer. For the last glacial period, we found concentrations of between 3 and 62 nM PO43− and 7 and 929 nM P. We find glacial atmospheric fluxes of phosphorus to Greenland were 4 to 11 times higher than in the past century, with the highest input during the cold glacial stadials (GS). Changes in P and PO43− fluxes between mild glacial interstadials (GI) and GS correlate positively with dust variability. The soluble fraction of P is larger in the mild GIs as compared to the dust-rich GSs. For the very high phosphate and phosphorus loads during the Last Glacial Maximum, the relationship between phosphate and dust is weaker than in GIs and milder GSs, suggesting either secondary phosphate sources or multiple dust sources. Based on crustal abundances, we find that dust inputs are sufficient to account for all P deposited during all periods investigated except the Last Glacial Maximum. During the glacial, sea salts contributed 10−3 nM P, while land biogenic emissions were a minor source of P.