During the past decades, marine geochemists have begun to direct renewed attention to the physical and biochemical processes involving trace metals in the central ocean basins where delivery from terrestrial sources via the atmosphere of apparently of primary importance. Much of the renewed interest has arisen because of recent demonstration that certain trace metals may control oceanic biological productions and, consequently, much of the biological and geochemical activity going on in the deep sea. The principal investigator is a well-established expert in marine trace metal chemistry. This project will continue his ongoing studies by focusing on oceanic responses to atmospheric deposition of trace metals such as aluminum, iron, manganese, cadmium, zinc, copper, and lead in the Sargasso Sea. The approach will involve both new sampling near Bermuda as well as chemical analyses of archived samples of particles and seawater from the region. As in his earlier studies, the project will be enriched through coordination with a variety of other scientists conducting related trace metal and biogeochemical studies in the North Atlantic.
