Controls on the silicon isotope distribution in the ocean: New diagnostics from a data-constrained model

摘要

The global distributions of the silicon isotopes within silicic acid are estimated by adding isotope fractionation to an optimized, data-constrained model of the oceanic silicon cycle that is embedded in a data-assimilated steady circulation. Including fractionation during opal dissolution improves the model's ability to capture the approximately linear relation between isotope ratio, delta Si-30, and inverse silicic acid concentration observed in the deep Atlantic. To quantify the importance of hydrographic control on the isotope distribution, delta Si-30 is partitioned into contributions from preformed and regenerated silicic acid, further partitioned according to euphotic zone origin. We find that the large-scale features of the isotope distribution in the Atlantic basin are dominated by preformed silicic acid, with regenerated silicic acid being important for setting vertical gradients. In the Pacific and Indian Oceans, preformed and regenerated silicic acid make roughly equally important contributions to the pattern of the isotope ratio, with gradients of the preformed and regenerated contributions tending to cancel each other in the deep Pacific. The Southern Ocean euphotic zone is the primary origin of both the preformed and regenerated contributions to delta Si-30. Nearly the entire preformed part of delta Si-30 is of Southern Ocean and North Atlantic origin. The regenerated part of delta Si-30 in the Atlantic basin also has a contribution of Central Atlantic (similar to 40 degrees S-40 degrees N) origin that is comparable in magnitude to the North Atlantic contribution. In other basins, the Central Pacific and Indian Ocean are the second largest contributors to the regenerated part of delta Si-30.