Kremling, Klaus and Petersen, H. (1981) The distribution of zinc, cadmium, copper, manganese and iron in waters of the open Mediterranean Sea. Meteor Forschungsergebnisse: Reihe A/B, Allgemeines, Physik und Chemie des Meeres, Maritime Meteorologie, 23 . pp. 5-14.

Text Kremling_K_1981_AB.pdf - Reprinted Version Restricted to Registered users only Download (765kB) | Contact

Abstract

On a cruise from the eastern into the western Mediterranean Sea in November/December 1978 a total of 126 samples were collected from 8 vertical profiles and 7 coastal stations for trace metal analysis. The sampling, processing and analysis was performed under strict "clean room" conditions. The concentration of the open-sea samples are close to oceanic results gathered under similar conditions. The grand averages from all profiles ( ± st. dev. of the individual samples) of 0.40 ± 0.16 µg l-1 Zn, 17.4 ± 7.4 ng l-1 Cd, 0.21 ± 0.07 µg l-1 Cu, 0.21 ± 0.13 µg l-1 Mn and 0.25 ± 0.09 μg l-1 Fe indicate that a "metal problem" does not exist in the open Mediterranean. A biologically mediated depletion in surface waters or correlation with nutrients have not been observed under the conditions established on this cruise. This is probably due to low primary production and seasonal advection processes prevailing in this sea. The data for manganese show generally higher values in the surface layer (0-75 m) than in deep waters. This could evidently proved in the nearshore profile indicating a terrigenous source for manganese.

Actions (login required)

View Item