Transport of 10Be and 9Be in the ocean

Abstract

Beryllium isotopes ( 10Be and 9Be) have been measured in suspended particles of < 1 mm size collected by mid-water sediment traps deployed in the eastern Pacific at MANOP sites H (6°32′N, 92°50′W, water depth 3600 m) and M (8°50′N, 104°00′W, 3100 m). For comparison, surface sediments from box cores taken from the two sites were also studied. The concentrations of 10Be and 9Be in sediment-trap particles are about an order of magnitude smaller than those in the bottom sediments which contain about 8 × 10 9 and 6 × 10 16 atoms g −1 of 10Be and 9Be, respectively. The sediment trap samples collected from 50 m off the bottom showed significant (26–63%) contributions from resuspended bottom sediments. The 10Be/ 9Be ratio in trap samples varies from 3 to 20 × 10 −8. The variation may partly result from varied proportion of authigenic/detrital material. The fluxes of both isotopes exhibit a very strong seasonality. The fluxes of 10Be into the traps at about 1500 m are estimated as 9 × 10 5 and 4 × 10 5 atoms cm −2 a −1 at sites H and M respectively. These values are to be compared with the fluxes into the sediments of 4–5 × 10 5 atoms cm −2 a −1 at both locations. Good correlations exist between 10Be, 9Be and 27Al indicating that the primary carrier phase(s) for the beryllium isotopes in the water column may be aluminosilicates.