Seawater uniqueness

Leading Examples Electrodialysis has its greatest use in removing salts from brackish water, where feed salinity is around 0.05-0.5 percent. For producing high-purity water, ED can economically reduce solute levels to extremely low levels as a hybrid process in combination with an ion-exchange bed. ED is not economical for the produc tion of potable water from seawater. Paradoxically, it is also used for the concentration of seawater from 3.5 to 20 percent salt. The concentration of monovalent ions and selective removal of divalent ions from seawater uses special membranes. This process is unique to Japan, where by law it is used to produce essentially all of its domestic table salt. ED is very widely used for deashing whey, where the desalted product is a useful food additive, especially for baby food. 

A unique family of O-linked glycoproteins permits fish to live in the icy seawater of the Arctic and Antarctic regions where water temperature may reach as low as — 1.9°C. Antifreeze glycoproteins (AFGPs) are found in the blood of nearly all Antarctic fish and at least five Arctic fish. These glycoproteins have the peptide structure... 

Although there are three Rji isotopes in the U- and Th-decay series, only is sufficiently long lived tm= 3.8 days) to be a useful estuarine tracer. Radioactive decay of Ra continuously produces Rn, which because of its short half-life is generally in secular equilibrium in seawater. Being chemically non-reactive except for very weak Van der Waals bonding makes this isotope a unique marine tracer in that it is not directly involved in biogeochemical cycles. 

The field of chemical oceanography/marine chemistry considers many processes and concepts that are not normally included in a traditional chemical curriculum. While this fact makes the application of chemistry to the study of the oceans difficult, it does not mean that fundamental chemical principles cannot be applied. The chapters included in this book provide examples of important chemical oceanographic processes, all taking place within the basic framework of fundamental chemistry. There are three principal concepts that establish many of the chemical distributions and processes and make the ocean a unique place to practice the art of chemistry (1) the high ionic strength of seawater, (2) the presence of a complex mixture of organic compounds, and (3) the sheer size of the oceans. 

At present, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry provides a unique, powerful alternative for the determination of rare earths in natural samples [638,639]. Nevertheless, its application to the determination of rare earths at ultratrace concentration level in seawater is limited, because highly saline samples can cause both spectral interferences and matrix effects [640]. Therefore, a separation of the matrix components and preconcentration of the analytes are prerequisites. To achieve this goal, many preconcentration techniques have been used, including coprecipitation with... 

Chemical analyses of seawater are uniquely difficult given the poorly known speciation and the low concentration of many of the analytes of interest. Analyses of suspended and sedimentary marine particulate materials present their own distinct challenges, primarily due to potential interference by predominant mineral phases of different types (e.g., opal, carbonate, and aluminosilicate). Of all the analytical methods applied to marine waters and particles, at present only a small fraction can be systematically evaluated via comparison to reference materials that represent the appropriate natural concentrations and matrices. 

Measurements of radionuclides in seawater have been used to study a variety of processes, including ocean mixing, cycling of materials, and carbon flux (by proxy). These measurements provide information on both process rates and mechanisms. Because of the unique and well-understood source functions of these elements, models of radionuclide behavior have often led to new understanding of the behavior of other chemically similar elements in the ocean. 

Many of the analytes of interest for solid phase chemical reference materials are the same as those in seawater, but the need for and the preparation of reference materials for suspended particulate matter and sediments is quite different. The low concentrations of many seawater species and the presence of the salt matrix create particular difficulties for seawater analyses. However while sediments frequently have higher component concentrations than seawater, they also have more complicated matrices that may require unique analytical methods. A number of particulate inorganic and organic materials are employed as paleoceano-graphic proxies, tracers of terrestrial and marine input to the sea, measures of carbon export from the surface waters to the deep sea, and tracers of food-web processes. Some of the most important analytes are discussed below as they relate to important oceanographic research questions. 

Beard BL, Johnson CM, Skulan JL, Nealson KH, Cox L, Sun H (2003) Application of Fe isotopes to tracing the geochemical and biological cycling of Fe. Chem Geol 195 87-117 Bender ML (1990) The delta-O-18 of dissolved O2 in seawater - a unique tracer of circulation and respiration in the deep-sea. J Geophys Res 95 22243-22252... 

Most of the water on Earth s surfece is in the ocean relatively little is present in the atmosphere or on land. Because of its chemical and physical properties, this water has had a great influence on the continuing biogeochemical evolution of our planet. Most notably, water is an excellent solvent. As such, the oceans contain at least a little bit of almost every substance present on this planet. Reaction probability is enhanced if the reactants are in dissolved fitrm as compared with their gaseous or solid phases. Many of the chemical changes that occur in seawater and the sediments are mediated by marine organisms. In some cases, marine organisms have developed unique biosynthetic pathways to help them survive the environmental conditions fitimd only in the oceans. Some of their metabolic products have proven useful to humans as pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, food additives, and cosmeceuticals. 

A unique solution for the equilibrium concentrations of each ion is obtained by fixing the temperature and chloride concentration. The resulting atmospheric level of CO2 can also be calculated. An example of the numerical solution to this multicomponent equilibrium concentration calculation is shown in Table 21.10. The predicted major ion concentrations are close to the observed values. Nevertheless, this model is not widely accepted as realistic because little evidence has been found for the establishment of equilibria between seawater and the solid phases. In feet, concentration gradients in the bottom and pore waters suggest that equilibrium is not being attained (Figure 21.2). This model is also not able to predict chloride concentrations because the major sedimentary component (halite) is nowhere near saturation with respect to average seawater. 

Rhenium is one of the transition elements, which range from metals to metal-like elements. Its chemical and physical properties are similar to those of technetium, which is above it in the periodic table. It is not very reactive. When small amounts are added to molybdenum, it forms a unique type of semiconducting metal. It is also noncorrosive in seawater. 

As we saw in Section 5.1, a single substance can exist in a variety of different phases, or different physical forms. The phases of matter include the solid, liquid, and gaseous forms and the different solid forms, such as the diamond and graphite forms of carbon. In one unique case— helium—there are two liquid forms of the same substance. There are several different forms of ice, which differ in the way the water molecules pack together when high pressures are applied. The conversion of a substance from one phase to another, such as the melting of ice, the vaporization of water, or the conversion of graphite into diamond, is called a phase transition. Phase transitions take place at specific temperatures and pressures that depend on the purity of the substance. Seawater, for instance, freezes at a lower temperature than pure water does. 

Finally, recent reviews indicate that marine microorganisms are potentially a greater source of bioactive compounds than marine macroorganisms,78 81 Marine microorganisms can be found in seawater or sediment, associated with macroorganisms either on the surface or symbiotically, and in extreme environments. Extremophiles, in particular, may have the greatest capacity for the production of unique bioactive metabolites.78... 

It has been shown that welds provide unique environments for the colonization of SRB with the subsequent production of sulfides that affect the weld seam surface of the heat-affected zone. Exposure of sulfide-derived surfaces to fresh, aerated seawater resulted in rapid spalling on the downstream side of weld seams. The bared surfaces became anodic to the sulfide-coated weld root, initiating and accelerating localized corrosion. (Dexter)5... 

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