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The control of weathering processes on riverine and seawater hafnium isotope ratios

¹ Département des Géosciences Marines, Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer, 29280 Plouzané, France
² Centre de Recherches Pétrographiques et Géochimiques, 15 rue Notre-Dame des Pauvres, 54501 Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy, France
³ Department of Earth Sciences, The Open University, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK
⁴ Centre de Recherches Pétrographiques et Géochimiques, 15 rue Notre-Dame des Pauvres, 54501 Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy, France
⁵ Département des Géosciences Marines, Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer, 29280 Plouzané, France
⁶ Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PR, UK

Hafnium ¹⁷⁶Hf/¹⁷⁷Hf isotope ratio variations in marine records are thought to reflect changes in continental weathering through time, but the behavior of Hf in rivers, and during weathering, is not well understood. Here, we present ¹⁷⁶Hf/¹⁷⁷Hf data for rivers, bedrock, soils, and leaching experiments for the Moselle basin, Vosges, France. These data strongly suggest that the ¹⁷⁶Hf/¹⁷⁷Hf composition of river waters is controlled by preferential dissolution of accessory phases (i.e., apatite, sphene) versus more resistant minerals (e.g., K-feldspar) and linked to the intensity of silicate weathering. Estimates for the global isotopic composition of riverine Hf suggest that the ocean Hf budget may be dominated by river input, and variations seen in marine records can be directly related to changes in silicate weathering intensity.

Key Words: hafnium isotopes • rivers • silicate weathering • ocean chemistry

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