50 BROECKER 



carbonate to be preserved, and so you can jump over the details of the kinetics 

 to make the broad statement. Now, if you want to make more detailed 

 arguments, then you have to understand this, and 1 do not think people really 

 understand it well enough to draw anv conclusions. 



Wetzel: A little more specifically, I was referring to the possibility of an 

 inhibition of dissolution by certain types of organisms. 



Broecker: It has been proposed that some calcium carbonate has a natural 

 armoring of its own organic matrix or tissue, but I would not draw any 

 conclusion at this point. A lot of experiments have been done, but no really 

 unifying theory explains the model. 



