SILVER IN THE EASTERN ATLANTIC-OCEAN

Vertical profiles of total silver concentrations in the northeast and southeast Atlantic are oceanographically consistent with total dissolved (< 0.45 mu m) silver concentration profiles in the North Pacific. These show that silver is a recycled element with low concentrations in surface waters (less than or equal to 0.7 pM) and relatively high concentrations (7 pM) in deep waters (4600 m) of the Atlantic, and that there is a systematic enrichment of silver concentrations in deep waters from the North Atlantic to the North Pacific (> 20 pM). This nutrient-type distribution is further evidenced by the highly significant (p < 0.01, simple linear regression) correlation (R greater than or equal to 0.916) of silver and silicate concentrations in both the North Pacific and eastern Atlantic.