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Science 9 December 1977:
Vol. 198. no. 4321, pp. 997 - 1009
DOI: 10.1126/science.198.4321.997
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Articles

The Oceanic Microcosm of Particles

D. Lal 1

1 Director of the Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad 380009, India, and visiting professor at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, California 92093

Analyses of suspended particulate matter larger than 1 micrometer, filtered from thousands of liters of surface and deep waters during GEOSECS expeditions to the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, have provided new information on the nature and time scales of chemical processes associated with the particles. Trace element and radionuclide data show that particles scavenge trace elements such as Th, Pu, Fe, Pb, and Cu from the ocean column, thereby controlling their concentrations. For other elements, however, particles are a source: carbon and silicon, for example, are introduced at depths as sinking particles dissolve. Studies of both particulate concentrations by filtration of seawater and particulate fluxes by using sediment traps seem necessary to delineate the intricate nature of chemical processes in the oceans.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Organic carbon and metal accumulation rates in Holocene and mid-Cretaceous sediments: palaeoceanographic significance.
T. J. Bralower and H. R. Thierstein (1987)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications 26, 345-369
   Abstract »    PDF »
A review of fine-grained sediment origins, characteristics, transport and deposition.
D. S. Gorsline (1984)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications 15, 17-34
   Abstract »    PDF »
Microstructure of Agglomerated Suspended Sediments in Northern Chesapeake Bay Estuary.
C. F. Zabawa and C. F. ZABAWA (1978)
Science 202, 49-51
   Abstract »    PDF »


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