Relationship between Cd and PO4 in the Subtropical Sea near the Ryukyu Islands

Abstract

The relationship between dissolved cadmium (Cd) and phosphate (PO4) was examined at three stations in the subtropical area near the Ryukyu Islands in May 1999. Preformed PO4 was obtained using the Redfield ratio in order to separate the surface water and the other layers in this study area. Almost 0 µM (−0.043 µM to 0.094 µM) was estimated in the layers above 300 m and 250 m at Sts. 1 and 3 and at St. 2, respectively. Up to these depths, water was considered to be uniform, and these layers were defined as the surface water in this study area. In the surface water, the slopes of the regression lines of the Cd-PO4 plot were 0.162, 0.156, and 0.226 (nM/µM) at Sts. 1, 2, and 3, respectively, and these values were much closer to the estimated regenerated ratio of Cd to PO4 from the Apparent Oxygen Utilization (AOU)-Cd/PO4 plots, which was 0.197 (nM/µM) in this study area. Below surface layers, the slopes of the Cd-PO4 plot changed to 0.371, 0.352, and 0.362 (nM//µM) at Sts. 1, 2, and 3, respectively. In the relationships between Cd and PO4, clear deviations or kinks were observed at three stations at a PO4 concentration of approximately 0.2 µM in the plot, which was attributable to the discontinuity of surface water and the other layers across the North Pacific subtropical mode water. In studies of the interaction between surface water and biogenic particles concerning the Cd/PO4 ratio, separate analyses of seawater (surface water and the other layers) should be carried out to obtain the individual surface water ratio because the Cd/PO4 ratio in the surface water is expected to differ from that of the underlying water. Furthermore, the biological fractionation of these constituents is based on the surface water ratio.