Copper in the resurrection fjord, Alaska |
| |
| Authors: | David T Heggie |
| |
| Institution: | Institute of Marine Science, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, Alaska 99701, USA |
| |
| Abstract: | Copper concentrations have been measured in more than 200 samples collected from an Alaskan fjord and continental shelf and slope regions in the northwestern Gulf of Alaska. Concentrations were lowest (2·1 nmol kg−1) at depths of 400–1000 m in the continental slope waters of the Gulf of Alaska. Copper increased systematically with decreasing salinities shoreward to concentrations >30 nmol kg−1 in fjord surface waters during summer months of high freshwater runoff. Copper concentrations increased with depth at an inner fjord station where deep basin waters have restricted circulation, and these data together with surface (<5 cm) pore water copper concentrations (mean=122 nmol kg−1) about an order of magnitude higher than bottom water copper concentrations are indicative of a flux of copper across the sediment-seawater interface. This latter was estimated at 32±12 nmol cm−2 annually, and represented less than 20% of the annual input to fjord surface water (228–411 nmol cm−2) added during summer months. Mass balances in bottom waters indicate a vigorous recycling of copper with a residence time estimated at 21±11 days. Most copper that is remobilized in surface sediments is returned to bottom waters and little (3%) is removed by subsequent diagenetic reaction in the buried sediments. However, an estimate of copper accumulating in anoxic fjord sediments was comparable with copper added to fjord surface waters suggesting that input-removal reactions rather than internal cycling controls copper geochemistry in this estuary. |
| |
| Keywords: | Copper seawater sediments interstitial water Alaska fjords |
| 本文献已被 ScienceDirect 等数据库收录！ |
|
