MAN-MADE CARBON-14 IN DEEP PACIFIC WATERS - TRANSPORT BY BIOLOGICAL SKELETAL MATERIAL

Calcareous particles present in Pacific waters at depths of 50 to 3500 meters were collected by filtering seawater through spongin matrix. The specific activity of carbon-14 could be measured in two of these collections from depths of 2300 and 3500 meters. The ratios of carbon-14 to carbon-12 correspond to values observed in surface waters in recent years as a result of the addition of man-made carbon-14, thus indicating that the calcareous particles resulted from recent biological productivity. The results are related to the mean settling rates and the sizes and dissolution rates of biogenic calcareous particles in transit through a seawater column.