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Excess sediment 230 Th: Transport along the sea floor or enhanced water column scavenging?
Author(s) -
Broecker Wallace
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
global biogeochemical cycles
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.512
H-Index - 187
eISSN - 1944-9224
pISSN - 0886-6236
DOI - 10.1029/2007gb003057
Subject(s) - winnowing , scavenging , water column , sediment , sedimentary rock , oceanography , sediment trap , geology , seabed , productivity , pacific ocean , environmental science , hydrology (agriculture) , geochemistry , geomorphology , chemistry , biochemistry , geotechnical engineering , macroeconomics , archaeology , economics , history , antioxidant
The sedimentary inventory of 230 Th is often employed to distinguish between areas which receive excess sediment as the result of along‐bottom transport from those which lose sediment as a result of winnowing. This process is referred to as “focusing.” A case is made here that, at least in the western equatorial Pacific, the excess 230 Th in on‐equator sediment is more likely scavenged from the overlying water column by the rain of organic matter than retransported along the bottom. If so, lateral variations in biological productivity may well contribute to the excess 230 Th inventories elsewhere as well.