title: Marine Primary Productivity as a Potential Indirect Source of Selenium and Other Trace Elements in Atmospheric Deposition.
abstract: Atmospheric processes play an important role in the supply of the trace element selenium (Se) as well as other essential trace elements to terrestrial environments, mainly via wet deposition. Here we investigate whether the marine biosphere can be identified as a source of Se and of other trace elements in precipitation samples. We used artificial neural network (ANN) modeling and other statistical methods to analyze relationships between a high-resolution atmospheric deposition chemistry time series (March 2007-January 2009) from Plynlimon (UK) and exposure of air masses to marine chlorophyll a and to other source proxies. Using ANN sensitivity analyses, we found that higher air mass exposure to marine productivity leads to higher concentrations of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in rainfall. Furthermore, marine productivity was found to be an important but indirect factor in controlling Se as well as vanadium (V), cobalt (Co), nickel (Ni), zinc (Zn), and aluminum (Al) concentrations in atmospheric deposition, likely via scavenging by organic compounds derived from marine organisms. Marine organisms may thus play an indirect but important role in the delivery of trace elements to terrestrial environments and food chains.
authors.affiliation: Eawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, CH-8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Tim
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Blazina
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Läderach
authors.affiliation: Eawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, CH-8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Gerrad D
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.affiliation: Geophysical Institute, University of Bergen and Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research , NO-5020 Bergen, Norway.
authors.forename: Harald
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sodemann
authors.forename: Heini
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wernli
authors.affiliation: Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, CH-8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland.|Department of Earth and Planetary Science, University of California , Berkeley, California 94720-4767, United States.
authors.forename: James W
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-6577-3619
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Kirchner
authors.affiliation: Eawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, CH-8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Lenny H E
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-7586-7256
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Winkel
mesh_terms: D002244:Carbon; D003035:Cobalt; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D012643:Selenium; D014131:Trace Elements
chemical_list: D014131:Trace Elements; D003035:Cobalt; D002244:Carbon; D012643:Selenium