Role of oceanic circulation on contaminant lead distribution in the South Atlantic

Both the relatively high lead concentrations and their characteristic anthropogenic isotopic compositions attest to the widespread contamination of industrial lead in the western Equatorial and South Atlantic Ocean. Spatial gradients in those isotopic signatures evidence the conservative lateral transport of lead in oceanic water masses, while the discrete isotopic signatures in deep oceanic waters substantiate the complementary hypothesis that the release of lead from settling particles is relatively small on a decadal time-scale. Specifically, the relatively low radiogenic lead (e.g., 206Pb/207Pb=1.148±0.009) in the Lower-North Atlantic Deep Water (l-NADW) south of 10° North is primarily attributed to US industrial lead emitted in the Northern Hemisphere prior to 1965, and the more radiogenic lead (e.g., 206Pb/207Pb=1.180±0.006) in the Upper-North Atlantic Deep Water (u-NADW) is primarily attributed to subsequent industrial lead emissions in that hemisphere. In contrast, the relatively radiogenic lead (e.g., 206Pb/207Pb=1.186±0.007) in the Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW) seemingly reflects a mixture of natural and anthropogenic lead sources within the Southern Hemisphere; and its isotopic dissimilarity with that (e.g., 206Pb/207Pb=1.159±0.002) of Antarctic Intermediate Water (AAIW) and the AABW may be due to differences in either their aeolian or water-mass inputs.