Oceanic mass balance: trace element fluxes at the sediment-water interface
Trace elements and isotopes (TEIs) are powerful tools for studying the ocean system and tracing its interaction with the other Earth spheres. However, our understanding of the marine TEI cycles is limited by our knowledge of their source and sink fluxes across the sediment-water interface, which play major roles in setting the oceanic budgets of TEIs.
Our research aims to constrain and model the sedimentary TEI fluxes and the related biogeochemical processes, in order to provide robust parameterizations of such fluxes suitable for global models. TEIs that are currently being investigated include the Rare Earth Elements (particularly Nd), the transition metals (Fe, Ni, Zn and Cu), Be, Si and their respective isotopes.
The oceanic budget of Ni and its isotopes. The blue numbers refer to the Ni fluxes and the red numbers refer to the isotopic composition
Sediment coring expedition in the Northeast Pacific Ocean on RV Oceanus
Processing pore water samples in the clean lab for isotopic measurements
Summary of the sedimentary processes and the resulting benthic fluxes of Nd and its radiogenic isotope composition (εNd) at a deep sea site on the Oregon margin. Black numbers indicate the Nd fluxes and purple numbers indicate the isotopic composition.
Student projects
- Chen, M. (ongoing). Insights from silicon stable isotopes into the processes driving benthic fluxes of silicon in the abyssal ocean. Master's project.
Selected publications
- Du, J. (2023) external pageGeoscientific Model Development Discussions 1–45.
- Du, J. et al. (2022) external pageEarth and Planetary Science Letters 596, 117792.
- Deng, K. et al. (2022) external pageGeochemical Perspectives Letters 22, 26–30.