Session y^ 



Impact of Life Processes on the 

 Chemistry of the Ocean 



Dr. Francis A. Richards, Discussion Leader 



INTRODUCTION 



In identifying areas of research interest within the indicated area of 

 chemical oceanography, a systematic discussion is presented, evaluating 

 progress in four stages: 



• Inventory of chemical variables altered by life processes 



• Processes, rates, and mechanisms of those processes 



• Synthesis with knowledge from other areas and disciplines 



• Applications, prediction, and impacts. 



In oceanography the inventory step has always had to await suitable 

 analytical methods, but a scientific raison a fair e has generally preceded 

 the development of those analytical methods. As an example, Brandt 

 ( 1 899) suggested the importance of phosphorus and nitrogen compounds 

 in limiting the productivity of the oceans, but analytical methodology 

 appropriate to the problem was not developed until the early 1920's. 

 Thus, although one cannot safely assume that the distribution of any 

 specific constituent is unimportant to life processes and vice versa, 

 areas of more probable importance can be identified. 



Progress in chemical oceanography has produced inventories of some 

 constituents that are adequate for the solution of many oceanographic 

 problems, but there are many biologically altered and biologically 

 important variables of which there is little or no knowledge. For example, 

 repeated references are made to chelating materials that are almost 

 wholly unidentified and yet are probably biologically highly significant. 

 There are essentially no adequate analytical methods for determining 

 these materials and no start on inventories of them. On the other hand, 

 continued observations of many of the variables altered by life processes 

 such as dissolved oxygen and the major nutrients that are made on a 

 routine basis and continue to enrich their inventories. 



It is evident that the inventory of chemical variables includes the 

 problems of chemical speciation, particularly matters of complexation, 

 chelation, and ligand formation. For example, the coordination of 



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