Trace metal determinations by total-reflection X-ray fluorescence analysis in the open Atlantic Ocean

Abstract

The Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC), as a major component of its programme “Global Investigation of Pollution in the Marine Environment” (GIPME), maintains a long-standing project on “Open Ocean Baseline Studies of Trace Contaminants”. Initially, the Atlantic Ocean and trace metals were selected. A first cruise with the RV Meteor to the eastern parts of the south and north Atlantic Ocean was successfully organized, in March and April 1990, from Cape Town (South Africa) to Funchal (Madeira, Portugal). Thirteen scientists from laboratories in Europe and North America participated with the first author as coordinator. Four deep-water stations in the Cape Basin, Angola Basin, Cape Verde Abyssal Plain and Seine Abyssal Plain were regularly sampled for at least 36 depths. Additional samples were taken between stations. Samples were distributed to participants and a similar number of additional laboratories. As a central part of our own contribution to the project, we determined the trace heavy metals manganese, nickel, copper, zinc and lead and the lighter selenium by total-reflection X-ray fluorescence analysis. Additional methods applied, inter alia, were anodic stripping voltammetry for lead and cadmium and graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (GFAAS) for cadmium, using two different extraction procedures. For the TXRF, the pre-enrichment of the trace metals and the separation from the salt matrix were performed by complexation with sodium dibenzyldithiocarbamate and reverse-phase chromatography. Generally, very low levels of trace elements were found in filtered and unaltered water samples from these remote areas of the open Atlantic Ocean. Typical examples of the distributions of trace metal concentrations on depth profiles from the four deep-water stations as well as intercomparisons between the stations are presented.