Abstract
Surface waters of the Mediterranean Sea have higher trace-metal concentrations than open Atlantic surface waters1. This observation could be explained by sources within the basin, but recent data from the Alboran Sea2 indicate that trace metals may already be enriched in Atlantic waters flowing into the Mediterranean through the Strait of Gibraltar. Here we present new data documenting the presence of trace-metal-enriched source waters west of the Strait, and present a mathematical analysis showing that Cu, Ni, Cd and Zn distributions in the Alboran Sea can be explained as linear mixtures of four well–defined sources: (1) Spanish coastal waters, (2) North Atlantic Central Water, (3) Atlantic surface water, and (4) Mediterranean Levantine Intermediate Water. In this analysis, salinity and trace metals are used for the first time to deconvolve mixing between water masses of different origins.
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van Geen, A., Rosener, P. & Boyle, E. Entrainment of trace-metal-enriched Atlantic-shelf water in the inflow to the Mediterranean Sea. Nature 331, 423–426 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1038/331423a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/331423a0
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