Invasion of the abyssal North Atlantic by modern anthropogenic lead
- 15 May 1999
- journal article
- Published by American Geophysical Union (AGU) in Geophysical Research Letters
- Vol. 26 (10) , 1477-1480
- https://doi.org/10.1029/1999gl900287
Abstract
While anthropogenic emissions have dramatically elevated lead concentrations in the North Atlantic troposphere and surface waters by orders of magnitude above natural levels [Murozumi et al., 1969; Schaule and Patterson, 1983; Boyle et al., 1986], it has been assumed that the relatively low lead levels in North Atlantic abyssal waters are not yet contaminated [Schaule and Patterson, 1981; Flegal and Patterson, 1983]. That misperception is redressed by the following stable lead isotopic composition data which reveal the advective transport of industrial lead into those deep basin waters through the formation of North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW). Additionally, spatial gradients in the isotopic signatures of anthropogenic lead within the North Atlantic abyss appear to serve as transient tracers of contaminant penetration rates.This publication has 24 references indexed in Scilit:
- Chlorofluoromethane distributions in the deep equatorial Atlantic during January–March 1993Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers, 1998
- Isotopic evidence of pollutant lead transport from North America to the subtropical North Atlantic gyreGeochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 1997
- Physico-chemical Speciation of Lead in South San Francisco BayEstuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 1997
- Ventilation of the Deep Western Boundary Current and Abyssal Western North Atlantic: Estimates from Tritium and3He DistributionsJournal of Physical Oceanography, 1994
- Isotopic evidence for the source of lead in Greenland snows since the late 1960sNature, 1993
- Trace elements in the North Atlantic troposphere: Shipboard results of precipitation and aerosolsGlobal Biogeochemical Cycles, 1990
- Pb isotopes in surficial pelagic sediments from the North AtlanticGeochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 1990
- Vertical concentration profiles of lead in the Central Pacific at 15°N and 20°SEarth and Planetary Science Letters, 1983
- Lead concentrations in the northeast Pacific: evidence for global anthropogenic perturbationsEarth and Planetary Science Letters, 1981
- Chemical concentrations of pollutant lead aerosols, terrestrial dusts and sea salts in Greenland and Antarctic snow strataGeochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 1969