Morris, B.F.; Butler, J.N.; Sleeter, T.D.; Cadwallader, J. (1977). Particulate hydrocarbon material in ocean waters. Rapp. et Proc.-Verb. Cons. Int. Explor. Mer 171: 107-116
In: Rapports et Procès-Verbaux des Réunions du Conseil Permanent International pour l'Exploration de la Mer. Conseil Permanent International pour l'Exploration de la Mer: Copenhague. ISSN 0074-4336
Also appears in:
McIntyre, A.D.; Whittle, K.J. (Ed.) (1977). Petroleum Hydrocarbons in the Marine Environment: Proceedings from ICES Workshop held in Aberdeen 9-12 September 1975. Rapports et Procès-Verbaux des Réunions du Conseil Permanent International pour l'Exploration de la Mer, 171. Conseil International pour l'Exploration de la Mer: Copenhagen. 7-230 pp., more
Sea water samples collected in the Sargasso Sea near Bermuda between 1 and 100 m depth (with one station to 800 m) were filtered and the filters examined visually, extracted with pentane and benzene, and the pentane extract analyzed by gas chromatography. Filter extracts showed primarily normal alkanes in the range from 25 to 40 carbons, no odd-carbon predominance, and an unresolved envelope in about half the samples. Such characteristics are extremely smilar to the paraffinic wax inclusion found in pelagic tar lumps but different from those expected from many biogenic sources. The number of black or brown 'tar-like' particles (10 to 500 m diameter) visible on the filters decreased in most cases after solvent extraction. Their estimated quantitites (1 to 6 particles per litre) account for only about 10% of the amount (1 to 6 g/litre) of filterable non-polar hydrocarbons estimated by gas-liquid chromatography of the pentane extract. The total mass of these particles in the water column to 100 m is estimated to be about four times the standing crop of larger pelagic tar lumps at the sea surface.
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