to 



zo t, c 



Z5 50 75 0^ 



fS ID .'J VD .5C 5P Bb, ?b 



2C3- 



^ffff 



'SPO 



c 



o 



. -.^■^.}_L'f- _ .*■.'-' 



St^ff--, 



mo-\' 



?.5 /.p /.5 n^c 



zoo a, PP 



Fig. 17 

 factors 



or 07° 



Vertical distribution of bacterioplankton and environmental 



in the region of the equatorial divergence in the eastern Pacific 



(01°S. 97°W) . Bb and Pb = biomass and daily production of bacteria 

 3\ 



(mg/nr^); a - relative activity of heterotrophic bacteria; PP - potential 

 production of bacteria (mg/m-^); DOC - dissolved organic carbon (mg C/1); 







2 - dissolved oxygen (% of saturation); t, C - temperature, 



In deep-water sediments of the pelagic zone, the intensity of^ 

 destruction decreases by 2 orders of magnitude, to 0.2-0.5 iig 02/m^. Only 

 about 0.3% of the primary production of pelagic zone is destroyed in these 

 sediments. 



Calculations on the basis of data on the total destruction of organic 

 matter in benthic sediment of the ocean yields a value of 1.6 10^ t of 

 carbon, or about 6% of the global primary production. This level of global 

 primary production is based on studies by the radiocarbon method, but if we 

 consider that the value produced by this method is probably low by a factor 

 of 3 or 4, the actual fraction of primary production which is destroyed in 

 the benthic sediment should be estimated as 1.5-2%. 



Data on the intensity of bacterial production and destruction, the 

 coefficients of specific production of marine microflora and the variation 

 in the intensity of metabolism with temperature in situ (Sorokin, 1969, 

 1970d,e, 1971a, g, 1973c, d) allow calculation of the approximate total 

 values of destruction of organic matter, bacterial biomass and production 



272 



