Exploration of the marine silver cycle in coastal and open ocean environments of the North Pacific

• Main Author: Kramer, Dennis
• Other Authors: Pedersen, Thomas F.
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2006
• Subjects: chemical oceanography; North Pacific Ocean; Saanich Inlet; British Columbia; UVic Subject Index::Sciences and Engineering::Earth and Ocean Sciences; Pacific; Subarctic
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1828/2124

Five profiles of the silver concentration in the subArctic Northeast Pacific Ocean yield a broad correlation between the Ag content and dissolved Si. However, silver is depleted at intermediate depths where the 02 content is low, implying removal from oxygen-deplete waters. An eighteen-month series of measurements of dissolved and particulate Ag from Saanich Inlet, BC indicate that Ag concentrations in near-surface waters are influenced by processes occurring outside the inlet. Dissolved silver was not detected in sulphide-bearing deep waters in the fjord. Ag in sediment-trap particles was associated with both biogenic and mineral phases. The Ag/biogenic Si ratio of the particles is related to the concentration of dissolved Ag in the surface waters suggesting a direct link between availability of the metal and its sequestration by diatoms.