Book Description

The first edition of Marine Geochemistry received strongcritical acclaim, and the reviews included the comments that it'provides a benchmark in the field' and 'is clearly recognizable asa standard text for years to come'. Marine Geochemistry offers a fully comprehensive andintegrated treatment of the chemistry of the oceans, theirsediments and biota. It addresses the fundamental question 'How dothe oceans work as a chemical system?' by capitalizing on thesignificant advances in understanding oceanic processes made overthe past three decades. These advances have been facilitated byimproved sampling and analytical techniques, a better understandingof theoretical concepts and the instigation of large-sizedinternational oceanographic programs. Designed for use as a text, the book treats the oceans as a'unified system' in which material stored in the sea water, thesediment and the rock reservoirs interacts to control thecomposition of sea water itself. Part I covers the transport ofmaterial to the oceans via rivers, the atmosphere and hydrothermalsystems, and discusses their relative flux magnitudes. Part IIconsiders the oceans as a reservoir, introducing water-columnparameters before discussing water-column fluxes and the benthicboundary layer. Part III is devoted to the sediment reservoir. Thetopics covered include diagenesis, the major components of thesediments, and the processes controlling the geochemistry ofoceanic deposit, which are discussed in terms of sediment-formingsignals. Part IV offers an overview and synthesis of the integratedmarine geochemical system. Since the publication of the first edition, there have beenfurther significant advances in several areas of the subject. Therevised text of this edition accommodates these advances, whilestill retaining the emphasis on identifying key processes operatingwithin a 'unified ocean.' Special attention has been paid tofundamental conceptual changes, such as those related to tracemetal speciation in sea water, hydrothermal activity, carbondioxide and the importance of the oceans in world climate change,the transport of particulate material to the interior of the ocean,primary production and iron limitation, colloids, and thepreservation/destruction of organic matter in marine sediments. Intermediate and advanced students with interests in chemicaloceanography, marine geochemistry, marine biology and environmentalchemistry will welcome this revised comprehensive text. Otherstudents in the broader field of earth sciences will find it to bean essential reference source dealing with the interaction betweenthe atmosphere, the ocean and the solid earth. Incorporates all significant recent advances in thefield. 'Unified system' approach to ocean chemistry. Emphasises geological contexts, e.g. sediment diagenesis.