English Channel, Celtic sea, Gulf of Biscay, La Chapelle Bank, Spanish Coastal upwelling (from La Coruna to Vigo)

Carbon concentrations in suspended particulate material; Trace metalloid and inorganic selenium concentrations in sediment pore water; Primary production in the water column; Nutrient fluxes between the bed and the water column

The goal of this joint oceanographic research project (4 teams involved) is to quantify the most important fluxes and processes affecting the behaviour of components of the carbon cycle in the coastal zone and at the ocean margins. The elements considered include the classical nutrients (N, P, Si, Ca) as well as trace elements (Mn, Co, Zn) essential for the biological activity. The study must lead to the development of predictive models allowing the evaluation of the various fluxes involved in the biological cycles of the considered elements. The relative importance of perturbations of these cycles due to the anthropogenic activities, as well as their influences at the global scale on medium and long time scales, will also be investigated.

Université Libre de Bruxelles, Laboratory of Chemical Oceanography and Water Geochemistry
Boulevard du Triomphe/Triomflaan, CP 208
Brussels

1050
Belgium