Abstract
Iron (Fe) is a growth-limiting micronutrient for phytoplankton in major areas of oceans and deposited wind-blown desert dust is a primary Fe source to these regions. Simulated atmospheric processing of four mineral dust proxies and two natural dust samples followed by subsequent growth studies of the marine planktic diatom Cyclotella meneghiniana in artificial sea-water (ASW) demonstrated higher growth response to ilmenite (FeTiO3) and hematite (α-Fe2O3) mixed with TiO2 than hematite alone. The processed dust treatment enhanced diatom growth owing to dissolved Fe (DFe) content. The fresh dust-treated cultures demonstrated growth enhancements without adding such dissolved Fe. These significant growth enhancements and dissolved Fe measurements indicated that diatoms acquire Fe from solid particles. When diatoms were physically separated from mineral dust particles, the growth responses become smaller. The post-mineralogy analysis of mineral dust proxies added to ASW showed a diatom-induced increased formation of goethite, where the amount of goethite formed correlated with observed enhanced growth. The current work suggests that ocean primary productivity may not only depend on dissolved Fe but also on suspended solid Fe particles and their mineralogy. Further, the diatom C. meneghiniana benefits more from mineral dust particles in direct contact with cells than from physically impeded particles, suggesting the possibility for alternate Fe-acquisition mechanism/s.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 871-881 |
| Number of pages | 11 |
| Journal | Environmental Science and Technology |
| Volume | 55 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jan 19 2021 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This work was performed, in part, at the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies, an Office of Science User Facility operated for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science. The Los Alamos National Laboratory, an affirmative action equal opportunity employer is managed by Triad National Security, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy's NNSA, under contract 89233218CNA000001. E.H. and S.I. thank Drs. Andrew McGrath, John Nogan, and Minyuan Lee for their support.
Funding Information:
This work was performed, in part, at the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies, an Office of Science User Facility operated for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science. The Los Alamos National Laboratory, an affirmative action equal opportunity employer, is managed by Triad National Security, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy’s NNSA, under contract 89233218CNA000001. E.H. and S.I. thank Drs. Andrew McGrath, John Nogan, and Minyuan Lee for their support. The authors thank Paolo D’Odorico and Abi Bhattachan for providing the Kalhari sample, Stephen Cattle for providing the Australian sample. This research was supported in part by the Climate and Land Use Change Program of the U.S. Geological Survey. Any use of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. The authors also thank John Barron and Scott Starratt from USGS, who have provided valuable USGS internal review to enhance the quality of the manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 American Chemical Society.