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Abstract: To evaluate the role of submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) as a source of rare earth elements (REEs) in the coastal ocean, we estimated the SGD associated discharge of REEs into two semi-enclosed coastal bays in the southern coast of Korean peninsula. The mass balances of REEs demonstrated that the REE fluxes through SGD were two to three orders of magnitude higher than those through the other sources, such as diffusion from bottom sediments and atmospheric dust fallout. The Nd inputs through the total SGD from the two small coastal bays, Gamak Bay (148km2) and Hampyeong Bay (85km2), were estimated to be 0.7×104–1.3×104 moly−1, which is 0.06–0.3% of the total Nd fluxes from global rivers. In this region, coastal seawater was observed to have a substantially higher middle REE (MREE), which appears to be due to a large discharge of groundwater that is highly enriched with MREE. High MREE bearing waters were observed over the entire shore of the southern coast of Korea, implying that such high SGD-driven REE fluxes are common in coastal area. Our results suggest that the SGD-driven REE fluxes may contribute considerably to the global budget of REEs in the ocean. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: To evaluate the role of submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) as a source of rare earth elements (REEs) in the coastal ocean, we estimated the SGD associated discharge of REEs into two semi-enclosed coastal bays off a volcanic island, Jeju, Korea. The coastal brackish groundwater showed pronounced enrichments of middle REEs (MREE) relative to light REEs (LREE) and heavy REEs (HREE) when normalized against the upper continental crust (UCC), whereas seawater samples outside the bays showed a HREE enrichment pattern. The enrichment of both MREE and HREE was clearly identified in bay waters, resulting from mixing between groundwater and offshore seawater. The mass balances of REEs demonstrated that the REE fluxes through SGD were two to three orders of magnitude higher than those that occurred through the other sources, such as diffusion from bottom sediments and atmospheric dust fallout. The SGD-driven Nd flux from the entire Jeju Island during this summer was approximately 120±60mold−1, which is comparable to the Nd fluxes from major rivers (i.e., Mississippi River). Our results imply that highly permeable oceanic islands are particularly important for REE fluxes to the ocean. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: We observed the origin, behavior, and flux of dissolved organic carbon (DOC), dissolved organic nitrogen (DON), colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM), and dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) in the subterranean estuary of a volcanic island, Jeju, Korea. The sampling of surface seawater and coastal groundwater was conducted in Hwasun Bay, Jeju, in three sampling campaigns (October 2010, January 2011, and June 2011). We observed conservative mixing of these components in this subterranean environment for a salinity range from 0 to 32. The fresh groundwater was characterized by relatively high DON, DIN, and CDOM, while the marine groundwater showed relatively high DOC. The DON and DIN fluxes through submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) in the groundwater of Hwasun Bay were estimated to be 1.3×105 and 2.9×105 mold−1, respectively. In the seawater of Hwasun Bay, the groundwater-origin DON was almost conservative while about 91% of the groundwater-origin DIN was removed perhaps due to biological production. The DON flux from the entire Jeju was estimated to be 7.9×108 molyr−1, which is comparable to some of the world''s large rivers. Thus, our study highlights that DON flux through SGD is potentially important for delivery of organic nitrogen to further offshore while DIN is readily utilized by marine plankton in near-shore waters under N-limited conditions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]