Beryllium isotope distribution in the western North Atlantic: a comparison to the Pacific

Records of cosmogenic radionuclides 10Be, 26Al and 36Cl in corals: First studies on coral erosion rates and potential of dating very old corals

“…The 10 Be/ 9 Be ratios are within a narrow range, 6 ϫ 10 Ϫ9 to 3 ϫ 10 Ϫ8 , relative to the much larger range in 10 Be concentrations (range of 50ϫ). These ratios are quite consistent with those observed in seawater (Kusakabe et al, 1987;Ku et al, 1990;Kusakabe et al, 1990). There is a systematic trend in the 10 Be/ 9 Be ratios (which range between 4 ϫ 10 Ϫ8 and ϳ2 ϫ 10 Ϫ7 ) along advective flow lines (Ku et al, 1990) from surface N. Atlantic (4 ϫ 10 Ϫ8 ) to surface Pacific (2 ϫ 10 Ϫ7 ).…”

“…The corals studied in this investigation are from the W Atlantic Ocean. The reported 10 Be/ 9 Be values (Ku et al 1990) for the nearest site in the Atlantic ocean is for the N. Atlantic (33 0 -42 0 N latitude and 63 0 -77 0 W longitude); the ratios range from 2 to 6 ϫ 10 Ϫ8 . The ratios in corals utilized for this work (Table 3) overlap the observed range in seawater, but are definitely lower by factors of ϳ2-5.…”

Beryllium isotopes in the ocean.

“…Using 10Be /230Th ratio in the surface sediments and assuming that lateral movement of 230Th in sea water is negligible, Ku et al (1990) andAnder son et al (1990) estimated the oceanic residence time of "Be to be 500-1200 yrs. This estimate is close to that by Peng et al (1989) using 14C calibrated box model calculations.…”

“…With the limited data base at hand, it would be instruc tional to attempt a first-order assessment of the budgetary balance of 10Be and 9Be in the ocean. We are particularly interested in the evaluation of two aspects of the budget: (1) the contribution of atmospheric input of 9Be via eolian dust transport to the ocean, the significance of which seems to have been reflected in the 9Be profiles in the NW Atlantic; (2) the importance of oceanic Ku et al (1990), Edmond (1982), (1983), this study Ku et al (1990), Kusakabe et al (1987), this study Edmond (1983) Kusakabe et al (1991), Southon et al (1989) Measures andEdmond (1983), Kusakabe et al (1991) Garrels and Mackenzie (1971) Amin et al (1975, O'Brian (1979), Reyss et al (1981), Monaghan et al (1985/ 86) Prospero (1981, Uematsu (1989) Krauskopf ( Anderson et al (1990) and .…”

Marine Biogenic Minerals Hold Clues About Changes in Ocean Chemistry and Climate: Some Important Lessons Learned from Studies of Stable and Radioactive Isotopes of Be and Al

“…Since the pioneering observations by Merrill et al [1] of the very low concentrations of dissolved 9 Be in seawater, and those by Raisbeck et al [2] of the ultra-low concentrations of dissolved 10 Be in the oceans, a number of measurements have been reported for the concentrations of these isotopes in vertical profiles in the principal oceans [3,4,5]. The recent careful studies of dissolved concentrations of 26 Al and Al in seawater by Ku et al[6] have now added another paleo-tracer for studying the marine biogeochemistry of a second particle-active element with a cosmogenic isotope.…”