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They discovered that the higher the rock/water ratio within the container, and the faster the container spun, the more silica dissolved into solution. After analyzing and upscaling their results, they estimated that anywhere from 3.2 ± 1.0 – 5.0 ± 2.0 Tmol Si yr −1 of lithogenic DSi could enter the ocean from sandy beaches, a massive ...
Silicon enters the ocean in a dissolved form such as silicic acid or silicate. [103] Since diatoms are one of the main users of these forms of silicon, they contribute greatly to the concentration of silicon throughout the ocean. Silicon forms a nutrient-like profile in the ocean due to the diatom productivity in shallow depths. [103]
Since liquid water flows, ocean waters cycle and flow in currents around the world. Since water easily changes phase, it can be carried into the atmosphere as water vapour or frozen as an iceberg. It can then precipitate or melt to become liquid water again. All marine life is immersed in water, the matrix and womb of life itself. [7]
Cells reaching deeper water or the shallow seafloor can then rest until conditions become more favourable again. In the open ocean, many sinking cells are lost to the deep, but refuge populations can persist near the thermocline. Ultimately, diatom cells in these resting populations re-enter the upper mixed layer when vertical mixing entrains them.
For example, microscopic particles of silica called phytoliths can be found in grasses and other plants. Silica is an amorphous metalloid oxide formed by complex inorganic polymerization processes. This is opposed to the other major biogenic minerals, comprising carbonate and phosphate , which occur in nature as crystalline iono-covalent solids ...
[4] [5] [6] Dehydrating the latter yields a hard translucent form of silica with atomic-scale pores, called silica gel, which is widely used as water absorbent and drying agent. Silica dissolves very sparingly in water [citation needed] and is present in seawater at concentrations below 100 parts per million. In such dilute solutions, silica is ...
The remaining opal silica is exported to the deep ocean in sinking particles. [11] In the deep ocean, another 26.2 Tmol Si Year −1 is dissolved before being deposited to the sediments as opal silica. [11] At the sediment water interface, over 90% of the silica is recycled and upwelled for use again in the photic zone. [11]
In the first era, the Sun ignited, heating the surrounding molecular cloud. 60 new minerals were produced and were preserved as inclusions in chondrites. The accretion of dust into asteroids and planets, bombardments, heating and reactions with water raised the number to 250. [8] [12]