Rd. Riso et al., VERTICAL-DISTRIBUTION OF CADMIUM, COPPER AND LEAD IN THE EASTERN ALBORAN SEA - ENRICHMENT OF METALS IN SURFACE WATERS, Journal of marine systems, 5(3-5), 1994, pp. 391-399
The vertical distribution of cadmium, copper and lead was studied in t
he 0-500 m layer of the Eastern Alboran Sea. The concentrations measur
ed compare favourably with recent data for the neighbouring area (53 p
M < Cd < 124 pM; 1.4 nM < Cu < 2.8 nM, and 90 pM < Pb < 310 pM). The a
nalysis of six profiles showed the presence. of a sub-surface water ma
ss, the northwestern Mediterranean Water (NWMW, 75-300 m), with high c
oncentrations of trace metals. Metal-salinity relationships, typified
by cadmium, showed that the Atlantic surface waters (ASW) with low met
al concentrations before entering the Mediterranean Sea become enriche
d with metals from some as yet not clearly understood source near the
Straits of Gibraltar. The salinity-Cd relationship, taken together wit
h flux rates of salt and Cd, however, shows that the Modified Atlantic
water (MAW) gains its high metal concentrations during its transit in
the Alboran Sea principally from a mixing with the underlying metal-r
ich NWMW.