Silver in the western equatorial and South Atlantic Ocean

Vertical profiles of total dissolved (<0.22 μm) silver concentrations in the equatorial and southwest Atlantic Ocean provide a new perspective on the processes controlling the element's external fluxes and internal biogeochemical cycling in the World Ocean. Atmospheric inputs of natural and/or industrial aerosols appear to elevate silver concentrations in remote surface waters in the South Atlantic, where silver is effectively scavenged onto and/or bioaccumulated by plankton. The subsequent remobilization of silver with depth is relatively coincident with that of silicate, suggesting much of that silver is sequestered within a refractory organic phase associated with biogenic silica. That silver is then remineralized, and appears to be conservatively transported in subsurface water masses throughout the World Ocean.