Table of Contents

• Coverage
• Dataset Description
  • Methods & Sampling
  • Data Processing Description
• Data Files
• Supplemental Files
• Related Publications
• Parameters
• Instruments
• Deployments
• Project Information
• Funding

Samples were collected using GO-FLO Teflon Trace Metal Bottles, filtered to 0.2 μm or 0.45 μm (depending on filter type), acidified to pH ≈ 2 with hydrochloric acid, and stored for several years prior to processing. Aliquots containing five milliliters of seawater were cleanly subsampled from each sample, weighed, and an appropriate quantity of 136Ba–135Ba double spike added. Following spike–sample equilibration, barium was co-precipitated with calcium carbonate via dropwise addition of sodium carbonate. The resultant precipitate was dissolved in hydrochloric acid and twice passed through cation-exchange columns to purify Ba from matrix elements.

Samples were aspirated, desolvated, and analyzed using a 100 μL/min nebulizer, Aridus II desolvation system, and ThermoFisher Neptune multi-collector ICP-MS, respectively. All instrumentation was sitated at the WHOI Plasma Facility. Barium-isotopic compositions were calculated from simultaneous monitoring of ion beams corresponding to m/z 131 (Xe, xenon), 135 (Ba), 136 (Xe; Ba; Ce, cerium), 137 (Ba), 138 (Ba; La, lanthanum; Ce), 139 (La) and 140 (Ce).

Problem Report:
Sample from 1,000 m (Event #42; St. 12b) has an asymmetric uncertainty due to possible evaporative losses; positive uncertainty is +1.4 nmol/kg, whereas negative uncertainty is −6.3 nmol/kg (both are one standard deviation).

Data reduction was performed in MATLAB using the baseline-corrected ion beam output from the instrument software. Barium-isotopic compositions were calculated using an iterative, three-dimensional geometric interpretation of the double spike problem, with additional nested loops for interference corrections. All sample compositions are reported as parts per one thousand deviations (i.e., ‰; per mille) relative to NIST SRM 3104a.

Quality Control: Refer to the Certified Reference Materials (CRMs) supplemental file (PDF).

"_FLAG" columns follow the ODV flag scheme, defined as:
1 = Good Value: Used when replicate samples were analyzed for a particular concentration/isotopic composition.
2 = Probably Good Value: Used when the reported value reflects analysis of a single replicate.
3 = Probably Bad Value: Used when a value appears abnormally high or low (oceanographically inconsistent) based on adjacent depths or typical profile variability and shape using the context of relevant nearby stations.
6 = Value Below Detection Limit: Used when value is below the detection limit for that given element. Empty values are reported rather than zero or a detection limit value.

BCO-DMO Processing:
- replaced blanks (no data) with "nd".

NSF Award Abstract:
The goal of the international GEOTRACES program is to understand the distributions of trace chemical elements and their isotopes in the oceans. This project would measure stable isotopes of barium on a 2018 U.S. GEOTRACES expedition in the Pacific Ocean. Barium is a trace element whose distribution is relevant to all three themes of the GEOTRACES program, as barium can be used to: study chemical cycling within the oceans; trace exchanges of elements at ocean boundaries; and infer past environmental conditions. The data collected here will be the first of their kind for barium isotopes and will illuminate the geochemical cycle of this element. Moreover, conducting this work as part of the GEOTRACES program will maximize the return on investment in the barium isotope data by providing a rich interpretative framework.

This project seeks to understand how the interplay between internal cycling and boundary processes sets basin-scale barium concentration and isotopic distributions in the Pacific Ocean. Despite possessing a nutrient-like dissolved profile, marine barium cycling has a fundamentally different boundary condition to the major algal nutrients: barium cycling is not driven by production of organic matter but rather by its remineralization. Respiration of sinking organic matter in the ocean's 'twilight zone' releases carbon dioxide, mineralizes nutrients, and promotes precipitation of micron-size crystals of barite. Since barite is the major vector of particulate barium in seawater, the abundance and isotopic composition of barium in the oceans is tied to global carbon and nutrient cycling at the 'dark end' of the biological carbon pump. The data collected here will be used to test hypotheses across an unprecedented range of oceanographic conditions regarding: the formation, export, and regeneration of particulate material and the connection to seafloor processes; the importance of boundary sources to regional and global trace element and isotope budgets; the formation of putative soft-metal sulfides in oxygen-minimum zones; and the origin of enigmatic suspended particles in the deep open ocean. This proposal will contribute to education by training undergraduate research fellows and through presentation of seminars and guest lectures to regional science educators through collaboration with a regional conservation organization.