Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continents of Asia and Oceania in the west and the Americas in the east. At in area (as defined with a southern Antarctic border), this largest division of the World Ocean and the hydrosphere covers about 46% of Earth's water surface and about 32% of the planet's total surface area, larger than its entire land area (). The centers of both the Water Hemisphere and the Western Hemisphere, as well as the oceanic pole of inaccessibility, are in the Pacific Ocean. Ocean circulation (caused by the Coriolis effect) subdivides it into two largely independent volumes of water that meet at the equator, the North Pacific Ocean and the South Pacific Ocean (or more loosely the South Seas). The Pacific Ocean can also be informally divided by the International Date Line i

Evidence that Pacific tuna mercury levels are driven by marine methylmercury production and anthropogenic inputs

Hélène Paule Angot

Pacific Ocean tuna is among the most-consumed seafood products but contains relatively high levels of the neurotoxin methylmercury. Limited observations suggest tuna mercury levels vary in space and time, yet the drivers are not well understood. Here, we map mercury concentrations in skipjack tuna across the Pacific Ocean and build generalized additive models to quantify the anthropogenic, ecological, and biogeochemical drivers. Skipjack mercury levels display a fivefold spatial gradient, with maximum concentrations in the northwest near Asia, intermediate values in the east, and the lowest levels in the west, southwest, and central Pacific. Large spatial differences can be explained by the depth of the seawater methylmercury peak near low-oxygen zones, leading to enhanced tuna mercury concentrations in regions where oxygen depletion is shallow. Despite this natural biogeochemical control, the mercury hotspot in tuna caught near Asia is explained by elevated atmospheric mercury concentrations and/or mercury river inputs to the coastal shelf. While we cannot ignore the legacy mercury contribution from other regions to the Pacific Ocean (e.g., North America and Europe), our results suggest that recent anthropogenic mercury release, which is currently largest in Asia, contributes directly to present-day human mercury exposure.

National Academy of Sciences2022

Microbial community evolution in a marine shore porphyry tailings deposit throughout wetland remediation

Nouhou Diaby, Christof Holliger, Pierre Rossi

Background Two porphyry copper mines located in southern Peru initiated the discharge of mine wastes (tailings) for a final shore deposition in the Bay of Ite (Pacific Ocean). 780 millions metric tons of tailings were deposited, which formed a delta with a surface of ca. 16 km2. A low-pH oxidation zone characterized by the presence of iron hydroxides developed on the surface, along with a strong build-up of efflorescent salts rich in heavy metals. Objectives A 3 years investigation was carried out in order to understand the biogeochemical processes resulting from the remediation of the oxidizing tailings by the implementation of a wetland cover1. Methods Analysis of the bacterial communities was carried out by molecular techniques (T-RFLP and cloning-sequencing). A combination of physical, chemical and mineralogical methods was applied for the characterization of solid tailings and water samples. Results The non-remediated tailings was characterized by a low-pH oxidation zone (pH 3 – 4), in which the oxidative dissolution of sulphide was identified as the dominant process, carried out mainly by Leptospirillum spp, Acidithiobacillus spp and Sulfobacillus spp. This dissolution led to an increase in metal concentrations in the pore water. Below the oxidation zone, the neutrophilic primary zone was characterized by SO42- and Fe reductions induced by sulphate- and iron-reducing bacteria (SRB and FeRB). Drastic changes were observed along the remediation process, as the heavy metal concentrations decreased progressively close or below the detection limits together with the gradual installation of a near neutral pH and more reducing conditions. SO42- and Fe reductions were still observed in the deep section of the remediated tailings. Close to the surface, the presence of lithoautotrophic neutrophilic iron oxidizing bacteria such as Mariprofundus ferroxidans, Galionella spp, Leptotrix mobilis suggested that iron oxidation played an important role in the iron cycle. Other ubiquitous bacteria related to fresh water and marine environment were also detected in the wetland. Conclusions The implementation of a wetland promoted neutralization of the acid mine drainage and induced favourable geochemical conditions for the development of both SRB and FeRB, which lead to the metal removal from solution. References Diaby, N. 2009. Biogeochemical evolution of a marine shore tailings deposit during bioremediation. Ph. D. Thesis, University of Lausanne, Switzerland. 217 pp.

2009

Microbial community evolution in a marine shore porphyry tailings deposit throughout wetland remediation

Nouhou Diaby, Christof Holliger, Pierre Rossi

2009

Model Analysis of Ocean Compound Extreme Events in the North-Eastern Pacific

Evidence that Pacific tuna mercury levels are driven by marine methylmercury production and anthropogenic inputs

Microbial community evolution in a marine shore porphyry tailings deposit throughout wetland remediation

Model Analysis of Ocean Compound Extreme Events in the North-Eastern Pacific

Microbial community evolution in a marine shore porphyry tailings deposit throughout wetland remediation

Evidence that Pacific tuna mercury levels are driven by marine methylmercury production and anthropogenic inputs