Ocean and Sediment Biogeochemistry

Understanding the oceanic budgets and fluxes of elements and isotopes

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Rare Earth Elements and radiogenic Nd isotope composition

The radiogenic isotope composition (εNd) of Neodymium (Nd, one of the REE) is a key tracer of ocean circulation and water mass distribution, but it has long been recognized that the river and dust inputs are insufficient to balance the oceanic Nd budget. Using laboratory experiments and ocean diagnostic models my research showed that the sediment-water interface is the primary source of marine Nd and REE. This has led to a new approach of using the non-conservative component of εNd to trace ocean circulation rate.

Related publications

2022

  1. Nd
    Widespread lithogenic control of marine authigenic neodymium isotope records? Implications for paleoceanographic reconstructions
    A. N. Abbott, S. C. Lohr, A. Payne, H. Kumar, and Jianghui Du
    Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, Feb 2022
  2. Nd
    Reactive-transport modeling of neodymium and its radiogenic isotope in deep-sea sediments: The roles of authigenesis, marine silicate weathering and reverse weathering
    Jianghui Du, Brian A. Haley, Alan C. Mix, April N. Abbott, James McManus, and Derek Vance
    Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Oct 2022

2017

  1. Nd
    The Impact of Benthic Processes on Rare Earth Element and Neodymium Isotope Distributions in the Oceans
    Brian A. Haley, Jianghui Du, April N. Abbott, and James McManus
    Frontiers in Marine Science, Oct 2017

2016

  1. Nd
    Neodymium isotopes in authigenic phases, bottom waters and detrital sediments in the Gulf of Alaska and their implications for paleo-circulation reconstruction
    Jianghui Du, Brian A. Haley, and Alan C. Mix
    Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, Nov 2016
Related publications

2022

  1. REE
    Dominance of benthic flux of REEs on continental shelves: implications for oceanic budgets
    K. Deng, S. Yang, Jianghui Du, E. Lian, and D. Vance
    Geochemical Perspectives Letters, Jun 2022


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Transition metals and their stable isotopes

Transition metals such as Ni are essential nutrients that serve as metal co-factors in vital enzymes in marine organisms. The stable isotopes of transition metals thus have strong potentials to help us better understand the marine ecosystem functioning and the carbon cycle. However, transition metals also face the problem of budgetary imbalance. Together with collaborators, I have modeled how the composition of the phytoplankton community controls the distribution of Ni isotopes in the ocean and showed that Ni may play a key role in nitrogen fixation. I am currently co-supervising a Ph.D. project to quantify the sedimentary fluxes and processes of Ni, Cu, and Zn in a variety of sedimentary settings.

Related publications

2023

  1. Ni
    The nickel output to abyssal pelagic manganese oxides: A balanced elemental and isotope budget for the oceans
    Sarah Fleischmann, Jianghui Du, Aditi Chatterjee, James McManus, Sridhar D. Iyer, Ankeeta Amonkar, and Derek Vance
    Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 2023


Other trace elements and isotopes

I have collaborated with other researchers to study a variety of trace elements and isotopes. Some of them are listed here.

Related publications

2023

  1. Be
    Dominance of benthic fluxes in the oceanic beryllium budget and implications for paleo-denudation records
    Kai Deng, Jörg Rickli, Tim Jesper Suhrhoff, Jianghui Du, Florian Scholz, Silke Severmann, Shouye Yang, James McManus, and Derek Vance
    Science Advances, 2023


References