THE POSSIBLE OCCURRENCE OF PHOTOSYNTHETIC MICROORGANISMS IN DEEP‐SEA SEDIMENTS OF THE NORTH ATLANTIC 1, 2, 3

• Published in: Journal of Phycology
• Main Authors: Malone, T. C., Garside, C., Anderson, R., Roels, O. A.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 1973
• Subjects: Antarctic; Antarc*; North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1529-8817.1973.tb04124.x; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1529-8817.1973.tb04124.x; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1529-8817.1973.tb04124.x

SUMMARY An assemblage of 12 diatom species and other photosynthetic microorganisms associated with red clay sediments collected from a depth of 6150 m in the North Atlantic was observed to bloom in Antarctic bottom water when exposed to sunlight at sea surface temperature. Although no growth could be detected over the first 3 days of the experiment, nitrate was nearly completely stripped from the water. The maximum growth rate of 4.7 doubling/day was reached between days 4 and 5. Most of the diatom species have been described as littoral or coastal forms, and it is suggested that these organisms are transported to depth by fecal material, turbidity currents, or a combination of the two.