Detrital rain

The detrital rain of carbon-containing particles can be divided into two groups the hard parts comprising calcite and aragonite and the soft tissue containing organic carbon. The composition of the soft tissue shows surprising... 

The two prime mechanisms of carbon transport within the ocean are downward biogenic detrital rain from the photic zone to the deeper oceans and advection by ocean currents of dissolved carbon species. The detrital rain creates inhomogeneities of nutrients illustrated by the characteristic alkalinity profiles (Fig. 11-9). The amount of carbon leaving the photic zone as sinking particles should not be interpreted as the net primary production of the surface oceans since most of the organic carbon is recycled... 

The detrital rain of carbon-containing particles can be divided into two groups the hard parts comprised of calcite and aragonite and the soft tissue containing organic carbon. The composition of the soft tissue shows the average ratio of biophils as P N C Ca S = 1 15 131 26 50, with Cc Co ratio as 1 4. More details of carbon transformation in bottom sediments are presented in Box 2. 

Since detrital POM is continuously settling out of the surface waters of all the world s ocean, water masses moving laterally through the ocean basins are continuously receiving a rain of detrital POM. Aerobic respiration of this detrital POM causes the O2 concentration in a water mass to decrease as it travels through the deep sea. The amount of O2 consumed since a water mass was last at the sea surface can be... 

Alluvium detrital deposits resulting from the erosion caused by rain and water of relatively recent time, upon land not permanently submerged beneath the waters of lakes and seas. 

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