Geochemical behavior of inorganic germanium in an unperturbed estuary |
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Authors: | Philip N Froelich Gordon A Hambrick Lisa W Kaul James T Byrd Odile Lecointe |
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Institution: | Department of Oceanography, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida 32306 USA |
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Abstract: | Eleven monthly estuarine profiles of dissolved inorganic germanium (Gei) and silica (Si) in a natural, pristine river/bay system demonstrate that Ge-removal and -input parallel the seasonal silica cycle, reflecting Ge-uptake by and -dissolution from diatoms. The Ge/Si atom ratio of the river is 0.6 ± 0.15 × 10?6, which is near the average value for continental granites and for uncontaminated, remote, natural rivers (0.7 ± 0.3 × 10?6). The ratio escaping this estuary to the ocean is 0.8 × 10?6, reflecting some estuarine enhancement of the fluvial Ge-flux, probably due to release of Gei from fluvial particulates. Nevertheless, the post-estuarine ratio is not significantly different from the continental crustal ratio but is very different from the ratio in sea-floor hot springs and mid-ocean ridge hydrothermal plumes (4 ± 2 × 10?6) and in oceanic basalts (2.6 × 10?6). Thus natural estuarine processes do not obscure the contrasting signatures entering the ocean from dissolution of continental and sea-floor silicates. |
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