Chapter 6 



Precipitation on the Ocean Bottom 



63 



TABLE 3 Elements in Solution in Sea Water (Except Dissolved Gases)1'2 



mg/kg , 



Element CI = 19.00% Total in oceans (tons) Nuclide 



Chlorine 18,980 2.66 X 10'" 



Sodium 10,561 1.48 X 10'" 



Magnesium 1,272 1.78 X 10'' 



Sulfur 884 1.23 X 10'' 



Calcium 400 5.6 X 10" 



Potassium 380 5.3 X 10" K" 



Bromine 65 9.1 X 10" 



Carbon 28 3.9 X lO'^ C" 



Strontium 13 1.8 X 10" 



Boron A.6 6.4 X lO'^ 



Silicon 0.02 -4.0 0.028-5.6 X lO'^ 



Fluorine 1.4 2 X lO'^ 



Nitrogen (comp) . 0.01 -0.7 0.l4 -9.8 X 10" 



Aluminum 0.5 7 X 10" 



Rubidium 0.2 2.8 X 10" Rb*' 



Lithium 0.1 1.4 X 10" 



Phosphorus 0.001-0.1 0.014-1.4 X 10" 



Barium 0.05 7 X 10" 



Iodine 0.05 7 X 10'" 



Arsenic 0.01 -0.02 1.4 -2.8 X 10'° 



Iron 0.002-0.02 0.28 -2.8 X 10'° 



Manganese 0.001-0.01 0.14-1.4 X 10'° 



Copper 0.001-0.01 0.14 -1.4 X 10'° 



Zinc 0.005 7 X 10' 



Lead 0.004 5.6 X 10* 



Selenium 0.004 5.6 X 10' 



Cesium 0.002 2.8 X 10° 



Uranium 0.0015 2.1 X 10° U^' 



Molybdenum 0.0005 7 X 10' LP' 



Thorium < 0.0005 <7 X 10' Th^^' 



Cerium 0.0004 5.6 X 10' 



Silver 0.0003 4.2 X 10' 



Vanadium 0.0003 4.2 X 10' 



Lanthanum 0.0003 4.2 X 10' 



Yttrium 0.0003 4.2 X 10' 



Nickel 0.0001 1.4 X 10^ 



Scandium 0.00004 5.6 X 10^ 



Mercury 0.00003 4.2 X 10^ 



Gold 0.000006 8.4 X 10° 



Radium 0.2-3 X 10"'° 28 -420 Ra==' 



iSverdrup, H. U., M. W. Johnson, and R. H. Fleming, OCEANS (1942) 

 2Revelle, R., T. R. Folsom, E. D. Goldberg, and J. D. Isaacs (1955). 



Natural activities 



Total (tons) 



6.3 X 10' 



56 



Curies 



4.6 X 10'^ 



2.7 X 10' 



1.18 X 10" 



8.4 X 10° 



4.2 X 10- 



1.1 xio° 



versely, observations of the behavior of radio- 

 active isotopes would lead to a better under- 

 standing of the geochemistry of a given element. 



Operational data 



Of the fission products listed several are 

 either rare earths or rare-earth-like — such prod- 

 ucts all have very similar chemical properties. 

 All form relatively insoluble hydroxides of the 

 type R(OH)3. The solubility products of the 

 rare earth elements listed by Latimer (1952) all 

 fall in the range 10"-° to lO'So. Although a 

 quantitative comparison of the conditions that 



actually exist in the sea cannot be made with 

 these constants, it would appear from the scant 

 information available concerning the quantities 

 of rare earth elements in the sea that marine 

 waters are saturated with respect to these ele- 

 ments and that a major portion of the rare earth 

 elements are dispersed in the sea as solids. This 

 is generally confirmed by American and Japa- 

 nese observations of the distribution of fission 

 product activities in the Pacific following bomb 

 tests. In most cases, however, it is difficult to 

 differentiate between "solid fractions" that have 

 been precipitated as solids by chemical processes, 

 and radioactive solids that have been accumu- 



