Oceans, depth

Schematic depth ocean profiles for elements. This figure is based on a classification of elements according to their oceanic profiles given by Whitfield and Turner (1987). Uptake of some of the elements, especially the recycled ones, occurs somewhat analogously as that of nutrients. There are some elements such as Cd that are non-essential but may be taken up (perhaps because they mimick essential elements) the same way as nutrients. The concentration ranges given show significant overlap, since the concentrations of the elements also depend on crustal abundance.

Figure 3 Marine organisms produce calcite at 4 times the rate at which the ingredients for this mineral are supplied to the sea by continental weathering and planetary outgassing. A transition zone separates the mid-depth ocean floor where calcite is largely preserved from the abyssal ocean floor where calcite is largely dissolved.

Zahn, R., Keir, R., 1994. Tracer-nutrient correlations in the upper ocean observational and box model constraints on the use of benthic foraminiferal and Cd/Ca as paleo-proxies for the intermediate-depth ocean. In Zahn, R., Pedersen, T.F., Kaminski, M.A., Labeyrie, L., (eds). Carbon cycling in the glacial ocean Constraints on the ocean s role in global change. Springer, Berlin, pp 195-223. 

Tension leg and floating platforms can easily be released and towed away for service elsewhere, which is cheap and attractive. In the case of the fixed platforms, the topside modules are removed by lift barge and taken to shore for disposal. Gravity based structures can in theory be deballasted and floated away to be re-employed or sunk in the deep ocean, and steel jackets cut and removed at an agreed depth below sea level. In some areas jackets are cleaned and placed as artificial reefs on the seabed. The... 

Important ore deposits are found in Zaire, Morocco, and Ganada. The U.S. Geological Survey has announced that the bottom of the north central Pacific Ocean may have cobalt-rich deposits at relatively shallow depths in water close to the the Hawaiian Islands and other U.S. Pacific territories. 

The environmental sampling of waters and wastewaters provides a good illustration of many of the methods used to sample solutions. The chemical composition of surface waters, such as streams, rivers, lakes, estuaries, and oceans, is influenced by flow rate and depth. Rapidly flowing shallow streams and rivers, and shallow (<5 m) lakes are usually well mixed and show little stratification with... 

The Bathythermograph. The thermistor sensing probe of a disposable bathythermograph is coated with parylene. This instmment is used to chart the ocean water temperature as a function of depth. Parylene provides the needed insulation resistance and is thin and uniform enough to permit a rapid and accurate response to the temperature of the surrounding salt water (64). 

Bioluminescence functions in mating (fireflies, the Bahama fireworm), in the search for prey (angler fish, Photmus fireflies), camouflage (hatchet fish, squid), schooling (euphausiid shrimp), and to aid deep water fish (flashlight fish, Photoblepharon to see in the dark ocean depths. 

Other appHcations of firefly hioluminescence include measurement of the activity of bacteria in secondary sewage treatment activated sludge (296,297), detection of bacteria in clean rooms and operating rooms, measurement of bacteria in bottled foods, beverages (298), and pharmaceuticals (299), determination of the antimicrobial activity of potential dmgs (300), determination of the viabiHty of seeds (301), and measuring marine biomass concentrations as a function of ocean depth or geographical location (302). 

Ocean Basins. Ocean basins are primarily formed from oceanic basalts and maybe interspersed with continental remnants, ridges, seamounts, or volcanic islands rising from the depths. Average water depth is around 4000 m but the most significant mineralization is generally found at 5000 m for manganese nodules, 4000 m for biogenic oozes, and 3000 m for hydrothermal metalliferous sulfides. The area is poorly explored, however. 

Biogenic Ma.teria.ls, Deep ocean calcareous or siUceous oo2es are sediments containing >30% of biogenic material. Foraminifera, the skeletal remains of calcareous plankton, are found extensively in deep equatorial waters above the calcium carbonate compensation depth of 4000 to 5000 m. 

Ocean Basins. Known consohdated mineral deposits in the deep ocean basins are limited to high cobalt metalliferous oxide cmsts precipitated from seawater and hydrothermal deposits of sulfide minerals which are being formed in the vicinity of ocean plate boundaries. Technology for drilling at depth in the seabeds is not advanced, and most deposits identified have been sampled only within a few centimeters of the surface. 

Of the surface of the earth, 71% (3.60 x 10 km ) is covered by oceans their average depth is 6 km and their volume is 8.54 x 10 km . Unfortunately, this huge quantity of water is not suitable for very many human uses. Water with over 1000 ppm (parts per million by weight, or mg/L) salt is usually considered unfit for human consumption, and water with over 500 ppm is considered undesirable, but ia some parts of the world, people and land animals are forced to survive with much higher concentrations of salts, sometimes of over 2500 ppm. 

The oceans hold about 97% of the earth s water. More than 2% of the total water and over 75% of the freshwater of the world is locked up as ice ia the polar caps. Of the remaining 1% of total water that is both Hquid and fresh, some is groundwater at depths of > 300 m and therefore impractical to obtain, and only the very small difference, possibly 0.06% of the total water of this planet, is available for human use as it cycles from sea to atmosphere to land to sea. Only recently have humans been able to regulate that cycle to their advantage, and even now (ca 1997), only infinitesimally, ia some few isolated places. 

Cumene is expected to exist almost entirely in the vapor phase in the atmosphere (13). In water, mixed cultures of microorganisms collected from various locations and depths in the Atiantic Ocean were all found to be capable of degrading cumene (14). A number of studies have examined the aerobic degradation of cumene in seawater and in groundwater (15,16). The results indicate that cumene would normally be naturally degraded to below detectable limits within a week to ten days. Cumene is tightly adsorbed by soil and is not significantly mobile in soil (17). 

You have been asked to prepare an outline design for the pressure hull of a deep-sea submersible vehicle capable of descending to the bottom of the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean. The external pressure at this depth is approximately 100 MPa, and the design pressure is to be taken as 200 MPa. The pressure hull is to have the form of a thin-walled sphere with a specified radius r of 1 m and a uniform thickness t. The sphere can fail in one of two ways ... 

In the corrosion protection of marine structures, it is often found that the corrosion rate decreases strongly with increasing depth of water, and protection at these depths can be ignored. Investigations in the Pacific Ocean are often the source of these assumptions [7], However, they do not apply in the North Sea and other sea areas with oil and gas platforms. Figure 16-1 is an example of measurements in the North Sea. It can be seen that flow velocity and with it, oxygen access, is responsible for the level of protection current density. Increased flow velocity raises the transport of oxygen to the uncoated steel surface and therefore determines the... 

The solubility of oxygen in water with a salt content up to 1 mol L is only dependent on the temperature. The oxygen concentrations in equilibrium with air amount to (in mg L- ) 0°C, 14 10°C, 11 20°C, 9 and 30°C, 7. The depth of water has no effect in the case of ships. In Hamburg harbor in summer, 7.3 mg L are measured in depths up to 7 m. The value can be much lower in polluted harbors and even fall to zero [8]. In the open sea, constant values are found at depths of up to 20 m. With increasing depth, the Oj content in oceans with low flow rates decreases [12] but hardly changes at all with depth in the North Sea [13]. 

Ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) power plants generate electricity by exploiting the difference in temperature between warm water at the ocean surface and colder waters found at ocean depths. To effectively capture this solar energy, a temperature difference of 35°F or more between surface waters and water at depths of up to 3,000 feet is required. This situation can be found in most of the tropical and subtropical oceans around the world that are in latitudes between 20 degrees north and 20 degrees south. 

OTEC power plants can be located either onshore or at sea. The electricity generated can be transmitted to shore by electrical cables, or used on site for the manufacture of electricity-intensive products or fuels (such as hydrogen). For OTEC plants situated on shore to be economical, the floor of the ocean must drop off to great depths very quickly. This is necessary because a large portion of the electricity generated by an OTEC system is used internally to pump the cold water up from the depths of the ocean. The longer the cold water pipe, the more electricity it takes to pump the cold water to the OTEC facility, and the lower the net electrical output of the power plant. 

---