Pb isotopes in surficial pelagic sediments from the North Atlantic

Abstract

We measured Pb isotopic composition and concentration in sediment samples close to the sea water interface in 6 box-cores from the NE Atlantic, 2 box-cores from the Sargasso Sea, and one from the US continental shelf. The anthropogenic Pb input to marine sediments due to the increase of Pb contamination over the ocean during the last century can be identified in all these cores. In the eastern part of the Atlantic, i.e., in regions under aeolian influence from Europe, Pb pollution can be recognized using its distinctive unradiogenic composition, clearly different from the upper-crustal values commonly found in pre-Holocene sediments. In contrast, Pb pollution in regions influenced by North American sources can be identified only in detailed concentration profiles because the American Pb pollution has an isotopic composition much closer to that of the natural detrital Pb input coming from weathering of the continental crust. Pb excess inventories are in good agreement with fluxes estimated from sedimenttrap data and with the time record of Pb-contamination increase given by analyses in coral growth bands. Inventories of Pb contamination to the sediments of the Mud Patch (American shelf) are tenfold higher (84 μg/cm2) than those to Hatteras and Bermuda abyssal plains (4.3 and 2.8 μg/cm2).