Overview

This study offers a comprehensive and integrated treatment of the chemistry of the oceans, their sediments and biota. It addresses the fundamental question: how do the oceans work as a chemical system? It capitalizes on the significant advances in understanding achieved in the past two decades, advances facilitated by improved sampling and analytical techniques, better theoretical concepts, and the establishment of a large-scale international oceanographic programme. Designed for use as a text, the book treats the oceans as a 'unified system' in which material stored in the sea water, the sediment and the rock reservoirs interact to control the composition of sea water itself. Part I covers the transport of material to the oceans via rivers, the atmosphere and hydrothermal systems, and discusses their relative flux magnitudes. Part II considers the oceans as a reservoir, introducing water-column parameters before discussing dissolved gases, nutrients and organic carbon, particulate matter, trace elements, down-column fluxes and the benthic boundary layer. Part III is devoted to the sediment reservoir. The topics covered include diagenesis, the major components of the sediments, and the processes controlling the geochemistry of oceanic deposits, which are discussed in terms of sediment-forming signals. Part IV offers an overview and synthesis of the integrated marine geochemical system.

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9780412535307

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To answer the question 'How do the oceans work as a chemical system?' Chester looks at where the ocean's elements come from, where they end up and what happens to them in between. But this is no mere in/out accounting catalogue; he selects tracer elements to illustrate the different oceanic cycles. To use jargon, it is 'process-orientated', which at once makes for a better narrative and provides a framework within which to assimilate future dicsoveries. The book is clearly recognisable as a standard text for years to come.' New Scientist

To answer the question 'How do the oceans work as a chemical system?' Chester looks at where the ocean's elements come from, where they end up and what happens to them in between. But this is no mere in/out accounting catalogue; he selects tracer elements to illustrate the different oceanic cycles. To use jargon, it is 'process-orientated', which at once makes for a better narrative and provides a framework within which to assimilate future dicsoveries. The book is clearly recognisable as a standard text for years to come.' New Scientist

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