21 
1897. It .ayrnears from this that the »density« of plankton in Livø Bredning was 
7,5 against”L7 in Hvalpsund (Louns Bredning). A single determination like this 
is naturally very little to build upon, when it is a question of the quantity of 
plankton throughout the year; but there is nothing which indicates or suggests, 
that in the inner reaches there is more plankton than in Livø Bredning for 
example; we should much rather expect the reverse. 
We may now consider the condition as regards the quantity of organic 
material in the sea-bottom at the two places. In the bottom-sample from Louns 
Bredning there was 4,3 ”/, carbon, and in the bottom-sample from Livø Bredning 
(west of Furhoved) there was only 2.24 '/, carbon, thus the first place had almost 
double that of the second. 
The question is now, whether there is reason to believe, that in Livø 
Bredning more inorganic material is deposited annually than in Louns Bredning. 
The answer is, that there is rather reason to believe the opposite; Louns-Bredning 
is much more shut in by the land, so that there is both the possibility of 
erosion from the coasts and the best conditions for the deposition of the eroded 
materials. 
lf we cannot assume, however, that in Livø Bredning twice as much 
inorganic material is deposited annually as in Louns Bredning, then the deter- 
minations given of carbon can only mean, that in Louns Breduing more organic 
matter is annually deposited than in Livø Bredning. Thus, there seems to 
be some proportion present between the richness of the Zostera vege- 
tation and the quantity of deposited organic matter, but not between 
the latter and the density of plankton. We believe, therefore, that we may 
conclude from this, that the main source of the organic matter in the 
sea-bottom must be due to the Zostera belt and not to the plankton 
organisms.…. In choosing Louns and Livø Bredninger to illustrate this matter, I 
may say that it was entirely arbitrarily. We could have obtained the same result 
from many other localities. This may be shown in a little more detail. 
Beginning with the North Sea, we find there but little organic material 
out in the sea-bottom. This is probably due to the fact, that not much organic 
matter is produced in the North Sea, and that there is not enough calm for the 
deposition of organic material. Passing from this into Nissum Bredning, the 
quantity of organic matter rises at once from 0,34 to 0,56, and gradually as we 
penetrate further into the Limfjord, to Kaas and Thisted Bredninger where the 
Zostera vegetation becomes more extensive, the quantity of carbon in the bottom- 
soil also becomes greater, namely from 1—2 /,. It never reaches so high as in 
the innermost reaches, Louns Bredning for example, with the richest Zostera 
vegetation, or in the deep channel off Glyngøre, into which the rich Zostera vege- 
tation of Nykøbingbugt is carried out and deposited. 
We come to quite the same result on considering the conditions in Ise- 
fjord, where the proportion between the quantity of Zostera and the quantity of 
organic matter deposited on the sea-bottom is if possible even more distinct than 
in the Limfjord. The bottom in Roskilde Bredning, where we find large quantities 
