Biogeochemical cycling in high-latitude regions has a disproportionate impact on global nutrient budgets. Here, we introduce a holistic, multi-disciplinary framework for elucidating the influence of glacial meltwaters, shelf currents, and biological production on biogeochemical cycling in high-latitude continental margins, with a focus on the silica cycle. Our findings highlight the impact of significant glacial discharge on nutrient supply to shelf and slope waters, as well as surface and benthic production in these regions, over a range of timescales from days to thousands of years. Whilst biological uptake in fjords and strong diatom activity in coastal waters maintains low dissolved silicon concentrations in surface waters, we find important but spatially heterogeneous additions of particulates into the system, which are transported rapidly away from the shore. We expect the glacially-derived particles - together with biogenic silica tests - to be cycled rapidly through shallow sediments, resulting in a strong benthic flux of dissolved silicon. Entrainment of this benthic silicon into boundary currents may supply an important source of this key nutrient into the Labrador Sea, and is also likely to recirculate back into the deep fjords inshore. This study illustrates how geochemical and oceanographic analyses can be used together to probe further into modern nutrient cycling in this region, as well as the palaeoclimatological approaches to investigating changes in glacial meltwater discharge through time, especially during periods of rapid climatic change in the Late Quaternary.
1.Univ Bristol, Sch Earth Sci, Wills Mem Bldg,Queens Rd, Bristol BS8 1RJ, Avon, England 2.Univ Southampton, Natl Oceanog Ctr, Waterfront Campus,European Way, Southampton SO14 3ZH, Hants, England 3.Univ Southampton, Ocean & Earth Sci, Waterfront Campus,European Way, Southampton SO14 3ZH, Hants, England 4.Open Univ, Sch Environm Earth & Ecosyst Sci, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, Bucks, England 5.Columbia Univ, Lamont Doherty Earth Observ, 61 US-9W, Palisades, NY 10964 USA 6.Brown Univ, Envirom & Soc, 85 Waterman St, Providence, RI 02912 USA 7.British Antarctic Survey, Madingley Rd, Cambridge CB3 0ET, England 8.Univ East Anglia, Sch Environm Sci, Ctr Ocean & Atmospher Sci, Norwich Res Pk, Norwich NR4 7TJ, Norfolk, England 9.Ctr Environm Fisheries & Aquaculture Sci, Pakefield Rd, Lowestoft NR33 0HT, Suffolk, England 10.Dauphin Isl Sea Lab, 101 Bienville Blvd, Dauphin Isl, AL 36528 USA 11.Univ S Alabama, Mobile, AL 36688 USA 12.Univ Essex, Sch Biol Sci, Wivenhoe Pk, Colchester CO4 3SQ, Essex, England 13.Huntsman Marine Sci Ctr, 1 Lower Campus Rd, St Andrews, NB ESB 2L7, Canada 14.Jere A Chase Ocean Engn Lab, Joint Hydrog Ctr, Ctr Coastal & Ocean Mapping, 24 Colovos Rd, Durham, NH 03824 USA 15.Cardiff Univ, Sch Earth & Ocean Sci, Main Bldg,Pk Pl, Cardiff CF10 3AT, S Glam, Wales 16.GEOMAR Helmholtz Ctr Ocean Res, Wischhofstr 1-3, D-24148 Kiel, Germany 17.British Geol Survey, NERC Isotope Geosci Facil, Nottingham NG12 3GG, England 18.Univ Edinburgh, Sch GeoSci, James Hutton Rd, Edinburgh EH9 3FE, Midlothian, Scotland 19.Univ Nottingham, Sch Biosci, Ctr Environm Geochem, Sutton Bonington Campus, Loughborough LE12 5RD, Leics, England 20.Plymouth Marine Lab, Prospect Pl, Plymouth PL1 3DH, Devon, England
Recommended Citation:
Hendry, Katharine R.,Huvenne, Veerle A. I.,Robinson, Laura F.,et al. The biogeochemical impact of glacial meltwater from Southwest Greenland[J]. PROGRESS IN OCEANOGRAPHY,2019-01-01,176