Phys.org November 6, 2024
The January 2022 eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai (HTHH) volcano discharged 2,900 teragrams of ejecta, most of which was deposited in the South Pacific Ocean. An international team of researchers (UK, China) investigated its impact on the biogeochemistry of the South Pacific Gyre (SPG) using samples collected in February-April 2022. Surface water neodymium isotopes and rare earth element compositions showed a marked volcanic impact in the western SPG, potentially extending to the eastern region. Increasing trace metal concentrations in surface waters and chlorophyll-a inventories in euphotic layers between the eastern and western SPG suggested that the volcanic eruption supplied (micro)nutrients potentially stimulating a biological response. The estimated that the eruption released up to 0.16 kt of neodymium and 32 kt of iron into the SPG, which is comparable to the annual global dust-borne Nd flux and the annual dust-borne Fe flux to the entire SPG, respectively… read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLEÂ
GEOTRACES GP21 cruise track and volcanic ash dispersion from the Hunga Tonga-Hunga… Credit: Nature Communications volume 15, Article number: 8986, 18 October 2024