Abstract
Results of a continuing series of sequential sediment-trap deployments in the Sargasso Sea, covering 5 yr, suggest that an efficient mechanism exists for the removal of both biogenic and abiogenic particles from the surface layers of the ocean and for their rapid transfer to great depth1,2. We report here the occurrence of fly-ash particles in material collected in that experiment. Available evidence indicates that these particles were carried by winds from their sources, probably located in North America, to the Sargasso Sea and subsequently transported to deep water as components of faecal pellets or other organic aggregates. The speed of their removal from the water column suggests that their geographical distribution on the sea floor is dictated mainly by their airborne transport. The conspicuous morphology and specific chemistry and mineralogy of fly-ash particles may make them useful indicators of the presence of industrial pollutants in remote parts of the ocean. As their production is mainly limited to the past 100 yr, their appearance in sediments may serve as a time marker or as a tracer for biological down-mixing of particles.
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Deuser, W., Emeis, K., Ittekkot, V. et al. Fly-ash particles intercepted in the deep Sargasso Sea. Nature 305, 216–218 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1038/305216a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/305216a0
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