Organic matter oceans

Sulfur dioxide occurs in industrial and urban atmospheres at 1 ppb—1 ppm and in remote areas of the earth at 50—120 ppt (27). Plants and animals have a natural tolerance to low levels of sulfur dioxide. Natural sources include volcanoes and volcanic vents, decaying organic matter, and solar action on seawater (28,290,291). Sulfur dioxide is beHeved to be the main sulfur species produced by oxidation of dimethyl sulfide that is emitted from the ocean. 

Fig. 8. Steady-state model for the earth s surface geochemical system. The kiteraction of water with rocks ki the presence of photosynthesized organic matter contkiuously produces reactive material of high surface area. This process provides nutrient supply to the biosphere and, along with biota, forms the array of small particles (sods). Weatheriag imparts solutes to the water, and erosion brings particles kito surface waters and oceans.

This removal may also include diffusion of soluble U(VI) from seawater into the sediment via pore water. Uranium-organic matter complexes are also prevalent in the marine environment. Organically bound uranium was found to make up to 20% of the dissolved U concentration in the open ocean." ° Uranium may also be enriched in estuarine colloids and in suspended organic matter within the surface ocean. " Scott" and Maeda and Windom" have suggested the possibility that humic acids can efficiently scavenge uranium in low salinity regions of some estuaries. Finally, sedimentary organic matter can also efficiently complex or adsorb uranium and other radionuclides. 

Fluxes are linear functions of reservoir contents. Reservoir size and the residence time of the carbon in the reservoir are the parameters used in the functions. Between the ocean and the atmosphere and within the ocean, fluxes rates are calculated theoretically using size of the reservoir, surface area of contact between reservoirs, concentration of CO2, partial pressures of CO2, temperature, and solubility as factors. The flux of carbon into the vegetation reservoir is a function of the size of the carbon pool and a fertilization effect of increased CO2 concentration in the atmosphere. Flux from vegetation into the atmosphere is a function of respiration rates estimated by Whittaker and Likens (79) and the decomposition of short-lived organic matter which was assumed to be half of the gross assimilation or equal to the amount transferred to dead organic matter. Carbon in organic matter that decomposes slowly is transferred... 

Carbon in living organic matter in the ocean surface layer. 

Essentially all organic matter in the ocean is ultimately derived from inorganic starting materials (nutrients) converted by photosynthetic algae into biomass. A generalized model for the production of plankton biomass from nutrients in seawater was presented by Redfield, Ketchum and Richards (1963). The schematic "RKR" equation is given below ... 

As shown in Fig. 10-13, there is also a flux of O2 produced during net photosynthesis from the ocean to the atmosphere and an export flux of particulate and dissolved organic matter out of the euphotic zone. For a steady-state system, new production should equal the flux of O2 to the atmosphere and the export of organic carbon (Eppley and Peterson, 1979) (when all are expressed in the same units, e.g., moles of carbon). Such an ideal state probably rarely exists because the euphotic zone is a dynamic place. Unfortunately, there have been no studies where all three fluxes were measured at the same time. Part of the difficulty is that each flux needs to be integrated over different time scales. The oxygen flux approach has been applied in the subarctic north Pacific (Emerson et al, 1991) and subtropical Pacific (Emerson et al, 1995, 1997) and Atlantic (Jenkins and Goldman, 1985). The organic carbon export approach has... 

To this point, organic matter in the ocean has been treated primarily as RKR average plankton. We now need to focus on the fate of this biologically produced organic carbon. 

The organic carbon (and thus the organic matter) in seawater is predominantly in dissolved form (DOC) with an average for the whole ocean being 97%. In general, surface ocean concentrations are about 80/ M and decrease to about 40 /iM below 500 m (Peltzer and Hayward, 1996 Hansell and Peltzer, 1998). 

Respiration of organic matter and dissolution of CaCOs are the main controls of the distribution of deep ocean Total CO2 and alkalinity. These reactions (and their predicted effects on DIC and alkalinity) can be represented schematically as... 

Eppley, R. W. and Peterson, B. J. (1979). Particulate organic matter flux and planktonic new production in the deep ocean. Nature 282, 677-680. 

Williams, P. M. (1971). The distribution and cycling of organic matter in the ocean. In "Organic Compounds in Aquatic Environments" (S. D. Faust and J. W. Hunter, eds). Dekker, New York. 

Fig. 14-6 Profiles of potential temperature and phosphate at 21 29 N, 122 15 W in the Pacific Ocean and a schematic representation of the oceanic processes controlling the P distribution. The dominant processes shown are (1) upwelling of nutrient-rich waters, (2) biological productivity and the sinking of biogenic particles, (3) regeneration of P by the decomposition of organic matter within the water column and surface sediments, (4) decomposition of particles below the main thermocline, (5) slow exchange between surface and deep waters, and (6) incorporation of P into the bottom sediments.

The ultimate result is that not only Fe, but most metals that interact strongly with organic matter or oxide adsorbents, are likely to settle out of the water column in estuaries. Not only does this process reduce the metal flux reaching the ocean, but 50% of the time the current at the bottom of an estuary actually facilitates the movement of metals upstream. 

Transport in solution or aqueous suspension is the major mechanism for metal movement from the land to the oceans and ultimately to burial in ocean sediments. In solution, the hydrated metal ion and inorganic and organic complexes can all account for major portions of the total metal load. Relatively pure metal ores exist in many places, and metals from these ores may enter an aquatic system as a result of weathering. For most metals a more common sequence is for a small amount of the ore to dissolve, for the metal ions to adsorb onto other particulate matter suspended in flowing water, and for the metal to be carried as part of the particulate load of a stream in this fashion. The very insoluble oxides of Fe, Si, and A1 (including clays), and particulate organic matter, are the most important solid adsorbents on which metals are "carried."... 

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