m sec (52 ft sec) in the tropospheric jet streams. The residence time for the debris in 

 the atmosphere was about 2 weeks. Of importance is the delivery of these materials to 

 the ocean system along the paths of the prevailing jet streams. 



Speciation and State 



The speciation and the state (solid, liquid, gaseous, or colloidal) of an element are 

 important characteristics in governing the residence time and its bioaccumulation. 

 For example, uranium exists in both dissolved and particulate phases in ocean water. 

 The two forms in coastal waters can be identified by their U-234, U-238 ratio (Hodge 

 et al., 1979). Some organisms such as scallops preferably accumulate the particulate 

 form, which is a thousand-fold lower in concentration than the dissolved form. 

 Others such as mussels prefer the dissolved form for uptake. Thus, organismic 

 concentration factors must be related to the particular form in which the element 

 occurs. 



Where the various states of an element can be determined with relative ease, the 

 speciation can be a very vexing task. The experimental determinations of the 

 speciation of most elements are quite limited. The species of lead introduced to the 

 marine environment following the combustion of lead alkyls in gasolines may be 

 quite different from the naturally occurring species. As a consequence, their 

 behavior in coastal waters, especially in regard to uptake by organisms, may not be 

 predictable from knowledge about those of lead introduced in the major sedimentary 

 cycle. 



Analytical Techniques 



In the last half of the 1970s, there has been a minor revolution in our ability to 

 assay trace metals in coastal waters (Bruland, 1980). Improvements both in the 

 sampling of seawaters without the introduction of contamination from the ships, 

 hydrographic wires or sampling devices, and in laboratory analytical techniques 

 resulted in new wisdom about the concentration and distribution of metals in the 

 water column. Concentrations of cadmium, zinc, nickel, and copper were found to 

 be one to three orders of magnitude lower than the values previously reported. 

 Further, it was found that the sea water concentrations of a number of these elements 

 were governed by biological processes. Their abundance profiles, in some cases as a 

 function of depth, appeared to follow those of nutrients such as phosphorus, silicon, 

 and nitrogen. 



The improvement in analytical techniques recalls the work of Haber( 1928) who in 

 the 1920s reduced the generally accepted values of gold in seawater by about three 

 orders of magnitude. His laboratory precautions and his sampling techniques 

 provided a model for future workers. However, the need for care was somehow over- 

 looked in the following decades until the studies of Claire Patterson at the California 

 Institute of Technology, who, with his co-workers, established new standards in 

 analytical techniques and sampling devices that permitted the accurate determina- 

 tion of lead levels in seawater. 



These recent investigations of trace metal abundances have emphasized the impor- 

 tance of societal contributions to the oceans. The coastal waters of industrial areas 

 have received greater fluxes of metals as a consequence of industrial and domestic 

 discharges. But of greater concern is the possibility that marine organisms are 

 sensitive to slight increases of these very low (nanomolar) levels of metals. Anderson 

 and Morel ( 1978), for example, report that the dinoflagellate Gonyaulax tamarensis 

 becomes nonmotile at 0.1 nanomolar additions of cupric iron. Nonmotile cells do 

 not divide or grow larger. These are concentrations that are sometimes found in 

 coastal waters. 



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