Silicon-32 profiles in the South Pacific

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Si and 32Si were collected from samples of up to 375,000 ℓ of seawater using an in-situ extraction technique with ferric-hydroxide-loaded natural sponges contained in “butterfly” samplers. Results of measurements of dissolved 32Si and stable silicon in three vertical profiles in the South Pacific (23°-21°S; 175°E-177°W) are compared with 32Si specific activities observed in shallow and deep-water siliceous sponges collected from the Pacific, and with theoretical calculations of the 32Si production rate in the atmosphere by cosmic radiation. Good agreement exists between the production rate, the fallout rate, and the 32Si oceanic inventory of (2±0.5) × 10−2 (dpm/cm2) obtained from the South Pacific profiles.

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Also of Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bombay 5, INDIA.

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