Calcium in the Antarctic Ocean

Abstract

Calcium in sea water was determined of the samples taken from the Antarctic and Indian Oceans. Surface water commonly contains less calcium relative to chlorinity than does deep water. The tendency, however, is very faint in the Antarctic Ocean. In the surface waters, the Ca/Cl ratio is lower in the tropical and subtropical waters and the ratio well correlates with phosphate. The Ca/P ratio is calculated as 37 in atomic ratio. These may indicate that calcium is uptaken by organisms to make skeletal parts from surface water which is supersaturated with respect to calcite or aragonite. On the other hand, no definite correlationship between calcium and phosphate is found in subsurface water. This fact suggests that the regeneration process of calcium from organic debris is different from that of phosphate. The increase-rate of calcium in the abyssal water is estimated to be 0.18, ag at./(1 yr), which is due to the dissolution of calcium carbonate. The rate is about a half of total carbonate increase in the water.