Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Volume 112, Issue 13, Pages 3926-3930Publisher
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1419049112
Keywords
Mediterranean Sea; submarine groundwater discharge; nutrients; radium
Categories
Funding
- Spanish Government [CGL2011-13341-E, CGL2006-09274/HID, AP-2008-03044]
- Consejo de Seguridad Nuclear [2686-SRA]
- US Aid-Middle East Regional Cooperation [M29-073]
- Generalitat de Catalunya [2014 SGR-1356]
- prize ICREA Academia (Institucio Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avancats)
- Generalitat de Catalunya
- Institute of Advanced Studies at the University of Western Australia
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The Mediterranean Sea (MS) is a semienclosed basin that is considered one of the most oligotrophic seas in the world. In such an environment, inputs of allochthonous nutrients and micronutrients play an important role in sustaining primary productivity. Atmospheric deposition and riverine runoff have been traditionally considered the main external sources of nutrients to the MS, whereas the role of submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) has been largely ignored. However, given the large Mediterranean shore length relative to its surface area, SGD may be a major conveyor of dissolved compounds to the MS. Here, we used a Ra-228 mass balance to demonstrate that the total SGD contributes up to (0.3-4.8).10(12) m(3).y(-1) to the MS, which appears to be equal or larger by a factor of 16 to the riverine discharge. SGD is also a major source of dissolved inorganic nutrients to the MS, with median annual fluxes of 190.10(9), 0.7.10(9), and 110.10(9) mol for nitrogen, phosphorous, and silica, respectively, which are comparable to riverine and atmospheric inputs. This corroborates the profound implications that SGD may have for the biogeochemical cycles of the MS. Inputs of other dissolved compounds (e.g., iron, carbon) via SGD could also be significant and should be investigated.
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