DISTRIBUTION OF COPPER ZINC AND NICKEL IN SEA WATER OF GULF OF MAINE AND SARGASSO SEA

During six cruises to the Gulf of Maine and the Sargasso Sea, water samples were collected by a standardized technique and analyzed by the same operator using the same methods. The results, taken over a period of twelve months, failed to reveal significant seasonal variations, in the surface, that could be attributed to biological removal. However, the Atlantic Slope water and the waters of the Sargasso Sea and Gulf Stream appear to maintain distinctly different concentrations of these metals, and several profiles show significant increases of nickel and zinc with depth. The data indicate that either the rate of uptake of the metals by organisms is low or the rate of regeneration of the metals in the surface is high. Despite the lack of observable seasonal variation, these elements do appear to be non-conservative properties of sea water. © 1969.