Aluminum concentration ocean

Consequently, the solubility of biogenic silica precipitated from coastal waters (where dissolved aluminum concentrations are relatively high) may be somewhat lower than the solubility of similar biota grown in open-ocean waters (where dissolved aluminum concentrations are lower). 

Deep water dissolved aluminum concentrations range from 0.5 to 2.0 nmol kg in the Pacific Ocean, 8-30 in the Atlantic, and 135-170 in the Mediterranean. The western North Atlantic and the Mediterranean deep waters are high in dissolved aluminum from their recent contact with the surface (deep waters are young ). The western North Atlantic dissolved aluminum concentrations are 8-40... 

In contrast to their rather low dissolved concentrations in seawater, some of the trace metals, e g., iron and aluminum, along with oxygen and silicon, comprise the bulk of Earth s crust. Some trace elements are micronutrients and, hence, have the potential to control plankton species composition and productivity. This provides a connection in the crustal-ocean-atmosphere fectory to the carbon cycle and global climate. 

Aluminum is the best illustration of a trace metal with a scavenged-type distribution in the oceans. The major external input of aluminum is from the partial dissolution of atmospheric dust delivered to the surface ocean. Vertical profiles in the Mediterranean, the North Atlantic, and the North Pacific are presented in Figure 4. Extremely elevated concentrations of dissolved aluminum are observed in the Mediterranean Sea (Hydes et al., 1988), a region that receives a high atmospheric input of dust. Concentrations in... 

Earth s crust ranges in thickness from 10 to 50 km and contains at least trace amounts of 88 chemical elements. It can be subdivided into two distinctly different regimes the oceanic crust that underlies the oceanic basins and the continental crust. The two differ in composition — the oceanic crust being richer in iron, magnesium, and calcium, the continental crust being richer in silicon, aluminum, and alkali elements. The 88 natural elements are all present in both crusts, though in somewhat different concentrations. Nevertheless, only 12 elements, and the same 12 elements in each case, are... 

Also included in Table 1 is an estimate of the average oceanic residence times for these elements. A shorter residence time indicates a more rapid removal from the oceans. Another way to estimate the relative reactivity of elements with crustal sources is to compare their sea water concentrations with their abundance in the Earth s crust. This is presented in Table 2 (with a normalization to aluminum) and is shown graphically in Figure 1. If variations in the composition of continental materials and differences in the solubility of the elements from these materials are not too great, then to a first approximation the... 

Figure 1 The average and range of concentrations of the elements in the deep ocean from 2000 m to the bottom plotted against their average abundance in the Earth s crust. (Crustal abundances from Taylor (1964) Seawater concentrations from various references.) The dotted line shows a 1 1 slope plotted through the average concentration of aluminum. Elements that plot above this line are enriched in sea water relative to aluminum and their abundance in the crust.

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