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 2 April 1982:
Vol. 216. no. 4541, pp. 63 - 65
DOI: 10.1126/science.216.4541.63
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Articles

Mutual Flocculation of Algae and Clay: Evidence and Implications

YORAM AVNIMELECH 1, BILL W. TROEGER 1, and LESTER W. REED 2

1 U.S. Department of Agriculture, Southern Plains Watershed and Water Quality Laboratory, Durant, Oklahoma 74701
2 Oklahoma Agricultural Experiment Station and Department of Agronomy, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater 74078

Algae-clay aggregates were formed when algal and clay suspensions were mixed in the presence of an electrolyte. The maximum ratio of clay to algae in the aggregates was 1.7, 0.2, and 0.03 milligrams of clay per milligram of algae (wet weight) for Anabaena, Chlamydomonas, and Chlorella sp., respectively. The aggregates formed at Ca2+ concentrations higher than 5 x 10–4M or Na+ concentrations higher than 2 x 10–2. The mutualf flocculation and subsequent sedimentation have many practical and ecological implications for bodies of water.

Submitted on December 11, 1981


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
The origins of kaolinite-rich rocks associated with coal measures in China.
Q. LIU, D. A. SPEARS, P. ZHANG, and H. XU (2001)
Clay Minerals 36, 389-402
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Preservation of fossils in clay minerals; a unique example from the Upper Ordovician Soom Shale, South Africa.
S. E. Gabbott, M. J. Norry, R. J. Aldridge, and J. N. Theron (2001)
Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society 53, 237-244
   Abstract »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

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