Pelagic Environments

Honda, K., J.E. Marcovecchio, S. Kan, R. Tatsukawa, and H. Ogi. 1990. Metal concentrations in pelagic seabirds from the north Pacific Ocean. Arch. Environ. Contam. Toxicol. 19 704-711. 

Futter, M.N. 1994. Pelagic food-web structure influences probability of mercury contamination in lake trout (,Salvelinus namaycush). Sci. Total Environ. 145 7-12. 

The matrices and sources of the sediments listed in Table 4.2 are sometimes unclear. Those that are known are highly weighted toward clastic (quartz- and aluminosilicate-rich) marine sediments from coastal environments. Some of these reference materials, such as MESS-3 (NRC-Canada), MAG-1 (USGS) and the Arabian Sea and Pacific Ocean samples (IAEA 315, and 368), could provide excellent examples of clastic marine sediment representing the main repositories of organic matter in the ocean (Hedges and Keil, 1995). The listed materials fail to include both open-ocean opal and carbonate oozes, as well as pelagic red clays. 

In the present-day ocean, about half of the PIC exported to oceanic sediments consists of the remains of foraminiferans. These microorganisms are protozoans. They are widespread in the marine environment with some species having a pelagic lifestyle and others benthic. As shown in Figure 15.1a, their calcareous structures have the appearance of a chambered snail shell and are composed of the mineral calcite. Since this hard part is covered by tissue, it is technically a type of skeleton. These detrital remains are referred to as tests or forams. Among the present-day and extinct species of foraminiferans, considerable variation exists in the size, shape, and density of their tests. 

Morrison, H.A., F.A.P.C. Gobas, R. Lazar, and G.D. Haffner. 1997. Derivation of a benthic/pelagic foodweb bioaccumulation model for organic contaminants. Environ. Sci. Technol. Under review. 

Harris, M.L., Wilson, L.K., Norstrom, R.J., Elliott, J.E., 2003. Egg concentrations polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans in double-crested (Phalacrocorax au-ritus) and Pelagic (P. pelagicus) comorants from the Strait of Georgia, Canada, 1973-1998. Environ. Sci. Technol. 37, 822-831. 

Kidd, K.A., Bootsma, H.A., Hesslein, R.H., Muir, D.C.G., Hecky, R.E., 2001. Biomagnification of DDT through the benthic and pelagic food webs of Lake Malawi, East Africa Importance of trophic level and carbon source. Environ. Sci. Technol. 35, 14-20. 

The ocean is the penultimate repository for most chemical substances, natural and anthropogenic, prior to their incorporation and burial in marine sediments. In spite of an enormous annual input of terrestrially derived chemicals, with respect to many reactive chemical species, the pelagic ocean is a relatively clean environment. This is due, in large part, to the intensity of near-shore sedimentation. This chapter highlights chemical speciation in the vast, and relatively clean, interior region of the ocean. 

Kato C, Li L, Nogi Y, Nakamura Y, Tamaoka J, and Horikoshi K (1998) Extremely barophilic bacteria isolated from the Mariana Trench, Challenger Deep, at a depth of 11,000 meters. Appl Environ Microbiol 64 1510-1513 Kaye JZ, Baross JA (2000) High incidence of halotolerant bacteria in Pacific hydrothermal-vent and pelagic environments. FEMS Microbiology Ecol 32 249-260... 

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