Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 21 April 1995:
Vol. 268. no. 5209, pp. 375 - 379
DOI: 10.1126/science.268.5209.375
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Articles

The Silica Balance in the World Ocean: A Reestimate

Paul Tréguer 1, David M. Nelson 2, Aleido J. Van Bennekom 3, David J. DeMaster 4, Aude Leynaert 1, and Bernard Quéguiner 1

1 Unité de Recherches Associée, CNRS 1513, Institut Universitaire Européen de la Mer, Université de Bretagne Occidentale, 6 Avenue Le Gorgeu, BP 809, F-29285 Brest Cedex, France
2 College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331-5503, USA.
3 Department of Marine Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695-8208, USA.
4 Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ), 1790 AB Den Burg, TEXEL, the Netherlands

The net inputs of silicic acid (dissolved silica) to the world ocean have been revised to 6.1 ± 2.0 teramoles of silicon per year (1 teramole = 1012 moles). The major contribution (about 80 percent) comes from rivers, whose world average silicic acid concentration is 150 micromolar. These inputs are reasonably balanced by the net ouputs of biogenic silica of 7.1 ± 1.8 teramoles of silicon per year in modern marine sediments. The gross production of biogenic silica (the transformation of dissolved silicate to particulate skeletal material) in surface waters was estimated to be 240 ± 40 teramoles of silicon per year, and the preservation ratio (opal accumulation in sediment/gross production in surface waters) averages 3 percent. In the world ocean the residence time of silicon, relative to total biological uptake in surface waters, is about 400 years.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Radiolarians decreased silicification as an evolutionary response to reduced Cenozoic ocean silica availability.
D. B. Lazarus, B. Kotrc, G. Wulf, and D. N. Schmidt (2009)
PNAS 106, 9333-9338
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
An iron shuttle for deepwater silica in Late Archean and early Paleoproterozoic iron formation.
W. W. Fischer and A. H. Knoll (2009)
Geological Society of America Bulletin 121, 222-235
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Nitric Oxide as a Signaling Factor To Upregulate the Death-Specific Protein in a Marine Diatom, Skeletonema costatum, during Blockage of Electron Flow in Photosynthesis.
C.-C. Chung, S.-P. L. Hwang, and J. Chang (2008)
Appl. Envir. Microbiol. 74, 6521-6527
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Factors that Control the Range and Variability of Amorphous Silica in Soils in the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest.
L. Saccone, D. J. Conley, G. E. Likens, S. W. Bailey, D. C. Buso, and C. E. Johnson (2008)
Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 72, 1637-1644
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Silicon Uptake in Diatoms Revisited: A Model for Saturable and Nonsaturable Uptake Kinetics and the Role of Silicon Transporters.
K. Thamatrakoln and M. Hildebrand (2008)
Plant Physiology 146, 1397-1407
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Mining the diatom genome for the mechanism of biosilicification.
M. A. Brzezinski (2008)
PNAS 105, 1391-1392
   Full Text »    PDF »
Was There Really an Archean Phosphate Crisis?.
K. O. Konhauser, S. V. Lalonde, L. Amskold, and H. D. Holland (2007)
Science 315, 1234
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Analysis of Thalassiosira pseudonana Silicon Transporters Indicates Distinct Regulatory Levels and Transport Activity through the Cell Cycle.
K. Thamatrakoln and M. Hildebrand (2007)
Eukaryot. Cell 6, 271-279
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
CO2 Sensing at Ocean Surface Mediated by cAMP in a Marine Diatom.
H. Harada, K. Nakajima, K. Sakaue, and Y. Matsuda (2006)
Plant Physiology 142, 1318-1328
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Gene Expression Induced by Copper Stress in the Diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana..
A. K. Davis, M. Hildebrand, and B. Palenik (2006)
Eukaryot. Cell 5, 1157-1168
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Living Cells in Oxide Glasses.
J. Livage and T. Coradin (2006)
Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry 64, 315-332
   Full Text »    PDF »
{delta}30Si systematics in a granitic saprolite, Puerto Rico.
K. Ziegler, O. A. Chadwick, A. F. White, and M. A. Brzezinski (2005)
Geology 33, 817-820
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Regulation of the Expression of Intracellular {beta}-Carbonic Anhydrase in Response to CO2 and Light in the Marine Diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum.
H. Harada, D. Nakatsuma, M. Ishida, and Y. Matsuda (2005)
Plant Physiology 139, 1041-1050
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Secular change in the Precambrian silica cycle: Insights from chert petrology.
R. G. Maliva, A. H. Knoll, and B. M. Simonson (2005)
Geological Society of America Bulletin 117, 835-845
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Localization of Soluble {beta}-Carbonic Anhydrase in the Marine Diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum. Sorting to the Chloroplast and Cluster Formation on the Girdle Lamellae.
Y. Tanaka, D. Nakatsuma, H. Harada, M. Ishida, and Y. Matsuda (2005)
Plant Physiology 138, 207-217
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
From living communities to fossil assemblages: origin and fate of coccolithophores in the northern Arabian Sea.
H. Andruleit, U. Rogalla, and S. Stager (2004)
Micropaleontology 50, 5-21
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The Genome of the Diatom Thalassiosira Pseudonana: Ecology, Evolution, and Metabolism.
E. V. Armbrust, J. A. Berges, C. Bowler, B. R. Green, D. Martinez, N. H. Putnam, S. Zhou, A. E. Allen, K. E. Apt, M. Bechner, et al. (2004)
Science 306, 79-86
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The Rise of the Rhizosolenid Diatoms.
J. S. S. Damste, G. Muyzer, B. Abbas, S. W. Rampen, G. Masse, W. G. Allard, S. T. Belt, J.-M. Robert, S. J. Rowland, J. M. Moldowan, et al. (2004)
Science 304, 584-587
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Fossil whale preservation implies high diatom accumulation rate in the Miocene-Pliocene Pisco Formation of Peru.
L. R. Brand, R. Esperante, A. V. Chadwick, O. P. Porras, and M. Alomia (2004)
Geology 32, 165-168
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
New Insight into Phaeodactylum tricornutum Fatty Acid Metabolism. Cloning and Functional Characterization of Plastidial and Microsomal Delta 12-Fatty Acid Desaturases.
F. Domergue, P. Spiekermann, J. Lerchl, C. Beckmann, O. Kilian, P. G. Kroth, W. Boland, U. Zahringer, and E. Heinz (2003)
Plant Physiology 131, 1648-1660
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Carbon reservoir changes preceded major ice-sheet expansion at the mid-Brunhes event.
P. Wang, J. Tian, X. Cheng, C. Liu, and J. Xu (2003)
Geology 31, 239-242
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Biomineralization and Global Biogeochemical Cycles.
P. van Cappellen and P. Van Cappellen (2003)
Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry 54, 357-381
   Full Text »    PDF »
Regulation of Oceanic Silicon and Carbon Preservation by Temperature Control on Bacteria.
K. D. Bidle, M. Manganelli, and F. Azam (2002)
Science 298, 1980-1984
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
In vivo characterization of diatom multipartite plastid targeting signals.
K. E. Apt, L. Zaslavkaia, J. C. Lippmeier, M. Lang, O. Kilian, R. Wetherbee, A. R. Grossman, and P. G. Kroth (2002)
J. Cell Sci. 115, 4061-4069
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Genome Properties of the Diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum.
S. Scala, N. Carels, A. Falciatore, M. L. Chiusano, and C. Bowler (2002)
Plant Physiology 129, 993-1002
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Trophic Conversion of an Obligate Photoautotrophic Organism Through Metabolic Engineering.
L. A. Zaslavskaia, J. C. Lippmeier, C. Shih, D. Ehrhardt, A. R. Grossman, and K. E. Apt (2001)
Science 292, 2073-2075
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Biogeochemical Controls and Feedbacks on Ocean Primary Production.
P. G. Falkowski, R. T. Barber, and V. Smetacek (1998)
Science 281, 200-206
   Abstract »    Full Text »
Rapid Clay Mineral Formation in Amazon Delta Sediments: Reverse Weathering and Oceanic Elemental Cycles.
P. Michalopoulos and R. C. Aller (1995)
Science 270, 614-617
   Abstract »    PDF »
Silica-precipitating Peptides from Diatoms. THE CHEMICAL STRUCTURE OF SILAFFIN-1A FROM CYLINDROTHECA FUSIFORMIS.
N. Kroger, R. Deutzmann, and M. Sumper (2001)
J. Biol. Chem. 276, 26066-26070
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)