Rivers carry vital nutrients and trace metals into the ocean. These elements carry characteristic isotopic signatures that geologists can use to identify where the water in the ocean comes from. As part of the international project, which aims to map trace metals in the global ocean using such signatures, researchers studied the waters of the Amazon estuary. In doing so, they have discovered that the hitherto ignored Pará river system has a major influence on the composition of the water masses there.

from Latest Science News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/MI70Cn3