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Transport processes along the river-ocean continuum influence delivery of nutrients, carbon and trace metals from terrestrial systems to the marine environment, impacting coastal primary productivity and water quality. Although trace metal transformations have been studied extensively in the Mississippi River Delta region of the Northern Gulf of Mexico, investigations of manganese (Mn) and the presence of ligand-stabilized, dissolved manganese (Mn(III)-L) and its role in the transformation of trace elements and organic matter during riverine transport and estuarine mixing have not been considered. This study examined the chemical speciation of dissolved and particulate Mn in the water column and sediment porewaters in the Mississippi River and Northern Gulf of Mexico in March of 2021 to explore transformations in Mn speciation along the river-ocean continuum and the impact of different processes on the distribution of Mn. Total dissolved Mn concentrations were highest in the Mississippi River and decreased offshore, while Mn(III)-L contributed most to the dissolved Mn pool in near-shore waters. Porewater profiles indicated that ligand stabilization prevented dissolved Mn(III) reduction below the depth of oxygen penetration and in the presence of equimolar dissolved iron(II). Dissolved Mn(III)-L was enriched in bottom waters at all Northern Gulf of Mexico stations, and diffusive flux modelling of porewater dissolved Mn suggested that reducing sediments were a source of dissolved Mn to the overlying water column in the form of both reduced Mn(II) and Mn(III)-L. A simple box model of the Mn cycle in the Northern Gulf of Mexico indicates that Mn(III)-L is required to balance the Mn budget in this region and is an integral, and previously unconsidered, piece of the Mn cycle in the Northern Gulf of Mexico. The presence of Mn(III)-L in this system likely has an outsized impact on trace element scavenging rates, oxidative capacity, and the carbon cycle that have not been previously appreciated.
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The Northern Gulf Anomaly: P-and S-wave travel time delays illuminate a strong thermal feature beneath the Northern Gulf of Mexico
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Abstract Over the Texas-Louisiana Shelf in the Northern Gulf of Mexico, the eutrophic, fresh Mississippi/Atchafalaya river plume isolates saltier waters below, supporting the formation of bottom hypoxia in summer. The plume also generates strong density fronts, features of the circulation that are known pathways for the exchange of water between the ocean surface and the deep. Using high-resolution ocean observations and numerical simulations, we demonstrate how the summer land-sea breeze generates rapid vertical exchange at the plume fronts. We show that the interaction between the land-sea breeze and the fronts leads to convergence/divergence in the surface mixed layer, which further facilitates a slantwise circulation that subducts surface water along isopycnals into the interior and upwells bottom waters to the surface. This process causes significant vertical displacements of water parcels and creates a ventilation pathway for the bottom water in the northern Gulf. The ventilation of bottom water can bypass the stratification barrier associated with the Mississippi/Atchafalaya river plume and might impact the dynamics of the region’s dead zone.more » « less
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2020.1 16102
