The micronutrient iron plays a major role in setting the magnitude and distribution of primary production across the global ocean. As such, an understanding of the sources, sinks, and internal cycling processes that drive the oceanic distribution of iron is key to unlocking iron's role in the global carbon cycle and climate, both today and in the geologic past. Iron isotopic analyses of seawater have emerged as a transformative tool for diagnosing iron sources to the ocean and tracing biogeochemical processes. In this review, we summarize the end-member isotope signatures of different iron source fluxes and highlight the novel insights into iron provenance gained using this tracer. We also review ways in which iron isotope fractionation might be used to understand internal oceanic cycling of iron, including speciation changes, biological uptake, and particle scavenging. We conclude with an overview of future research needed to expand the utilization of this cutting-edge tracer.

中文翻译：

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从铁同位素对海洋铁生物地球化学的新见解


微量营养素铁在确定全球海洋初级生产的数量和分布方面发挥着重要作用。因此，了解驱动铁海洋分布的源、汇和内部循环过程是释放铁在全球碳循环和气候中的作用的关键，无论是今天还是过去的地质历史。海水的铁同位素分析已成为诊断海洋铁来源和追踪生物地球化学过程的变革性工具。在这篇综述中，我们总结了不同铁源通量的末端成员同位素特征，并强调了使用该示踪剂获得的对铁来源的新见解。我们还回顾了铁同位素分馏可用于了解铁内部海洋循环的方法，包括物种形成变化、生物摄取和颗粒清除。最后，我们概述了扩大这种尖端示踪剂的使用所需的未来研究。