Vertical flux of particles in the ocean
Abstract
Although most material both on the sea bed and in suspension is very fine, evidence suggests that most material reaching the bottom does so rapidly in aggregates. Sizes of suspended material below 200 to 400 m in the oceans follow a hyperbolic distribution with slopes between -2.4 and -3.6. Volume distributions are calculated and converted to mass distributions using an assumed density distribution. Stokes velocities are calculated for particle size classes. Most of the particle flux, the product of settling velocity and mass, is in the coarser size classes. Assumption of steady state requires aggregation of small particles in the upper layers of the ocean to maintain the concentration of the larger rapidly sinking particles. Current sampling procedures may miss much of the material in rapid vertical transit.
- Publication:
-
Deep Sea Research A
- Pub Date:
- 1975
- DOI:
- 10.1016/0011-7471(75)90022-4
- Bibcode:
- 1975DSRA...22..491M