The "Iron Fertilizer Effect" Strengthens the Biological Carbon Fixation in the North Pacific

Science and Technology Daily, Beijing, June 8 (Reporter Lu Chengkuan) On the 8th, the reporter learned from the Qinghai Tibet Plateau Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences that, based on the change history of iron in Asian inland dust over 3.6 million years, Chinese researchers found that Asian inland dust promoted the biological prosperity in the North Pacific region and strengthened the biological carbon fixation in the North Pacific through the "iron fertilizer effect"

Science and Technology Daily, Beijing, June 8 (Reporter Lu Chengkuan) On the 8th, the reporter learned from the Qinghai Tibet Plateau Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences that, based on the change history of iron in Asian inland dust over 3.6 million years, Chinese researchers found that Asian inland dust promoted the biological prosperity in the North Pacific region and strengthened the biological carbon fixation in the North Pacific through the "iron fertilizer effect". The relevant research results are published online in the Journal of the National Academy of Sciences.

Rivers and dust transport a large amount of nutrients to the ocean. The iron element carried by continental dust enters the ocean under the action of wind, which can increase the amount of plankton in the ocean and consume a large amount of carbon dioxide, reducing the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and alleviating the harm of the greenhouse effect. "said Zan Jinbo, the first author and corresponding author of the paper and a researcher at the Qinghai Tibet Plateau Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, This process is referred to by scientists as the "iron fertilizer effect" of dust.

The study found that in the Middle Pleistocene, about 800000 years ago, with the global cooling and the sharp increase of mountain glaciers in the middle and high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere, the glacier Erosion on the Qinghai Tibet Plateau was significantly enhanced, leading to the transformation of iron oxides in the dust of the Tarim Basin from Hematite to Magnetite. At the same time, the total content of iron and the content of high bioactive divalent iron increased sharply.

Further calculation shows that after the middle Pleistocene climate transition period, the total iron content and the amount of divalent iron transported from the Asian inland arid areas to the North Pacific increased by about 70% and 120% respectively. Zan Jinbo said, "This will greatly promote the biological prosperity in the North Pacific, and may change the population structure of Phytoplankton, consume a lot of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, causing the global climate to further cool."

Zan Jinbo said that this research achievement provides Direct evidence for in-depth understanding of the positive feedback mechanism of the Carbon cycle, namely, the increase of iron input in Asian dust, the enhancement of carbon fixation by marine organisms, the reduction of atmospheric carbon dioxide, and the global climate cooling.

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