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Aeolian dust is a critical part of the iron cycle by transporting iron particulates from the Earth's land via the atmosphere to the ocean. [23] Volcanic eruptions are also a key contributor to the terrestrial iron cycle, releasing iron-rich dust into the atmosphere in either a large burst or in smaller spurts over time. [24]
Iron is a key micronutrient in primary productivity, [49] and a limiting nutrient in the Southern ocean, eastern equatorial Pacific, and the subarctic Pacific referred to as High-Nutrient, Low-Chlorophyll (HNLC) regions of the ocean. [50] Iron in the ocean cycles between plankton, aggregated particulates (non-bioavailable iron), and dissolved ...
A biogeochemical cycle, or more generally a cycle of matter, [1] is the movement and transformation of chemical elements and compounds between living organisms, the atmosphere, and the Earth's crust. Major biogeochemical cycles include the carbon cycle , the nitrogen cycle and the water cycle .
Iron is a critical phytoplankton micronutrient necessary for enzyme catalysis and electron transport. [3] [4] Between the 1930s and '80s, it was hypothesized that iron is a limiting ocean micronutrient, but there were not sufficient methods reliably to detect iron in seawater to confirm this hypothesis. [5]
Marine chemistry, also known as ocean chemistry or chemical oceanography, is the study of the chemical composition and processes of the world’s oceans, including the interactions between seawater, the atmosphere, the seafloor, and marine organisms. [2]
Ocean iron fertilization is an example of a geoengineering technique that involves intentional introduction of iron-rich deposits into oceans, and is aimed to enhance biological productivity of organisms in ocean waters in order to increase carbon dioxide (CO 2) uptake from the atmosphere, possibly resulting in mitigating its global warming effects.
Iron can also be oxidized by marine microbes under conditions that are high in iron and low in oxygen. [53] Iron can enter marine systems through adjoining rivers and directly from the atmosphere. Once iron enters the ocean, it can be distributed throughout the water column through ocean mixing and through recycling on the cellular level. [54]
The term "lithotroph" was created from the Greek terms 'lithos' (rock) and 'troph' (consumer), meaning "eaters of rock". Many but not all lithoautotrophs are extremophiles . The last universal common ancestor of life is thought to be a chemolithotroph (due to its presence in the prokaryotes). [ 2 ]