Atlantic Water Flow Pathways Revealed by Lead Contamination in Arctic Basin Sediments
Charles Gobeil,1*
Robie W. Macdonald,2
John N. Smith,3
Luc Beaudin1
Contaminant lead in sediments underlying boundary
currents in the Arctic Ocean provides an image of current organization
and stability during the past 50 years. The sediment distributions of
lead, stable lead isotope ratios, and lead-210 in the major Arctic
Ocean basins reveal close coupling of the Eurasian Basin with the North
Atlantic during the 20th century. They indicate that the Atlantic water
boundary current in the Eurasian Basin has been a prominent pathway,
that contaminant lead from the Laptev Sea supplies surface water in the
transpolar drift, and that the Canadian and Eurasian basins have been
historically decoupled.
1 Institut Maurice-Lamontagne, Mont-Joli, QC,
G5H 3Z4, Canada.
2 Institute of Ocean Sciences,
Sidney, BC, V8L 4B2, Canada.
3 Bedford Institute of
Oceanography, Dartmouth, NS, B2Y 4A2, Canada.
*
To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail:
GobeilC{at}dfo-mpo.gc.ca
