{"title":"The distribution of 3He in the western Atlantic ocean","authors":"W.J. Jenkins , W.B. Clarke","doi":"10.1016/0011-7471(76)90860-3","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Over 250 samples of Atlantic seawater have been analyzed for the dissolved helium isotopes, and distinctive pattern has emerged. Two components of excess <sup>3</sup>He are seen: a component due to <em>in situ</em> decay of nuclear-era tritium, and a primordial component evolved from the solid Earth. A prominent feature at about 3-km depth can be traced from 5°N along the western boundary to the equator. The source of this feature is most probably in the Gibbs fracture zone, where we suppose that primordial <sup>3</sup>He is released into westward-flowing bottom water. The South Atlantic profiles clearly show the effect of <sup>3</sup>He-rich CCircumpolar Water, entrained by Antarctic Intermediate Water flowing northward. The excess <sup>3</sup>He in the upper 1 km, when combined with tritum concentrations measured byO¨stlund, Dorsey and Rooth (1974, <em>Earth and Planetary Science Letters</em>, <strong>23</strong>, 69–86) at the same locations and depths, yields ‘tritium-helium ages’, which in some cases represent the time interval between equilibration wwith the atmosphere and sampling.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":11253,"journal":{"name":"Deep Sea Research and Oceanographic Abstracts","volume":"23 6","pages":"Pages 481-494"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"1976-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/0011-7471(76)90860-3","citationCount":"124","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Deep Sea Research and Oceanographic Abstracts","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0011747176908603","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 124
Abstract
Over 250 samples of Atlantic seawater have been analyzed for the dissolved helium isotopes, and distinctive pattern has emerged. Two components of excess 3He are seen: a component due to in situ decay of nuclear-era tritium, and a primordial component evolved from the solid Earth. A prominent feature at about 3-km depth can be traced from 5°N along the western boundary to the equator. The source of this feature is most probably in the Gibbs fracture zone, where we suppose that primordial 3He is released into westward-flowing bottom water. The South Atlantic profiles clearly show the effect of 3He-rich CCircumpolar Water, entrained by Antarctic Intermediate Water flowing northward. The excess 3He in the upper 1 km, when combined with tritum concentrations measured byO¨stlund, Dorsey and Rooth (1974, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 23, 69–86) at the same locations and depths, yields ‘tritium-helium ages’, which in some cases represent the time interval between equilibration wwith the atmosphere and sampling.