Atlantic Ocean saturation depths

Depth profiles of (a) salinity (%o), (b) dissolved oxygen (ml /L), and (c) percent saturation of dissolved oxygen in the Southeastern Atlantic Ocean (9°30 W 11°20 S). Samples were collected in March 1994. Dotted lines represent the curves generated by the one-dimensional advection-diffusion model (see text for details). The values of Dz, Vz, and J are the ones that best fit the data. Data are from Java Ocean Atlas (http /odf.ucsd.edu/joa). Values of percent saturation of oxygen less than 100 reflect the effects of aerobic respiration. Values greater than 100 indicate a net input, such as from photosynthesis. (See companion website for color version.)... 

Typical vertical saturation profiles for the North Atlantic, North Pacific, and Central Indian oceans are presented in Figure 4.10. The profiles in the Atlantic and Indian oceans are similar in shape, but Indian Ocean waters at these GEOSECS sites are definitely more undersaturated than the Atlantic Ocean. The saturation profile in the Pacific Ocean is complex. The water column between 1 and 4 km depth is close to equilibrium with calcite. This finding is primarily the result of a broad oxygen minimum-C02 maximum in mid-water and makes choosing the saturation depth (SD) where Oc = 1 difficult (the saturation depth is also often referred to as the saturation level SL). 

We have calculated the saturation depth (SD) with respect to calcite for various regions of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans as shown in Figure 4.12. The saturation depth is deepest in the Eastern Atlantic ocean. In both the eastern and western Atlantic Ocean, the saturation depth becomes shallower to the south,... 

One of the more "aesthetically pleasing" relations was put forth for the eastern and western Atlantic Ocean basins by Berger (1977). In his plots (see Figure 4.21) the R0, FL and CCD were generally widely separated and usually close to parallel. The saturation depth (SD) was close to coincident with the R0 level. However, even this picture has problems. If the R0 and SD are closely coincident, how can the 50% dissolution occur that is required to produce the R0 level (Adelseck, 1978) ... 

More recent calculations such as those in this book indicate substantially lower saturation depths. Those calculated here are plotted in Figure 4.21. The SD is generally about 1 km deeper than that presented by Berger (1977). Clearly the new SD is much deeper than the R0 and appears only loosely related to the FL. Indeed, in the equatorial eastern Atlantic Ocean, the FL is about 600 m shallower than the SD. If these new calculations are even close to correct, the long cherished idea of a "tight" relation between seawater chemistry and carbonate depositional facies must be reconsidered. However, the major control of calcium carbonate accumulation in deep sea sediments, with the exceptions of high latitude and continental slope sediments, generally remains the chemistry of the water. This fact is clearly shown by the differences between the accumulation of calcium carbonate in Atlantic and Pacific ocean sediments, and the major differences in the saturation states of their deep waters. 

Figure 4.21. Latitudinal variation of saturation depths (SD) and carbonate sediment facies in the eastern and western Atlantic Ocean basins. (Modified after Berger, 1977.)...

Figure 7. The depth distribution of the Ro and calcite saturation levels, the foraminiferal lysocline and the calcium carbonate compensation depth in the Western and Eastern Atlantic Ocean (after Ref. 40)...

Figure 8, A detailed profile of calcite and aragonite saturation states and sediment marker depth in the Northwestern Atlantic Ocean, (Percentages are estimates of the amount of calcite dissolution which must occur to produce a given marker level.)...

North Atlantic to 500 m in the North Pacific. This reflects an increasing addition of CO2 to deep waters as meridional overturning circulation moves them from the Atlantic to the Indian and then to the Pacific Ocean. Thus, as a water mass ages, it becomes more corrosive to calcium carbonate. Since aragonite is more soluble than calcite, its saturation horizon lies at shallower depths, rising from 3000 m in the North Atlantic to 200 m in the North Pacific. 

Fig. 9.6 ACOj (giving the difference between the saturation concentration of CO and the ambient concentration of COj at a specific depth) based on GEOSECS-data (Takahashi et at, 1980) of two locations in the Atlantic and the Pacific ocean. The intersection of the data points with the 0 pM line denotes the position of the lysocline (from Archer, 1996).

Figure 3 Bathymetric profiles of calcium carbonate (calcite) saturation for hydrographic stations in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans (data from Takahashi etai 1980). Carbonate saturation here is expressed as ACOa ", defined as the difference between the in situ carbonate ion concentration and the saturation carbonate ion concentration at each depth ACOa " = [C03 ]seawater - [COa Jsaturation)-The saturation horizon corresponds to the transition from waters oversaturated to waters undersaturated with respect to calcite (A 003 = 0). This level is deeper in the Atlantic than in the Pacific because Pacific waters are COa-enriched and [C03 ]-depleted as a result of thermohaline circulation patterns and their longer isolation from the surface. The Atlantic data are from GEOSECS Station 59 (30°12 S, 39°18 W) Pacific data come from GEOSECS Station 235 (16°45 N,161°23 W).

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