Thermodynamic characterization of the partitioning of iron between soluble and colloidal species in the Atlantic Ocean

Recent electrochemical measurements have shown that iron (Fe) speciation in seawater is dominated by complexation with strong organic ligands throughout the water column and have provided important thermodynamic information about these compounds. Independent work has shown that iron exists in both soluble and colloidal fractions in the Atlantic Ocean. Here we have combined these approaches in samples collected from a variety of regimes within the Atlantic Ocean. We measured the partitioning of Fe between soluble (< 0.02 μm) and colloidal (0.02 to 0.4 μm) size classes and characterized the concentrations and conditional stability constants of Fe ligands within these size classes. Results suggest that equilibrium partitioning of Fe between soluble and colloidal ligands is partially responsible for the distribution of Fe between soluble and colloidal size classes. However, a significant fraction of the colloidal Fe was inert to ligand exchange as soluble Fe concentrations were generally lower than values predicted by a simple equilibrium partitioning model.In surface waters, strong ligands with conditional stability constants of 10¹³ relative to total inorganic Fe appeared to dominate speciation in both the soluble and colloidal fractions. In deep waters these ligands were absent, and instead we found ligands with stability constants 12–15 fold smaller that were predominantly in the soluble pool. Nevertheless, significant levels of colloidal Fe were found in these samples, which we inferred must be inert to coordination exchange.     

海洋浮游生物氮吸收动力学及其粒级特征

于１９９１年秋－１９９２年夏在中国科学院生态网络站之一的胶州湾进行了４个季节的现场实验，运用＾１５Ｎ同位素示踪方法研究胶州湾浮游生物群落对两种主要源铵态氮和硝态氮的吸收动力学及其粒级特征。研究初步阐明自然浮游生物落在不同季节，对不同氮源的吸收特性和受控机制，首次在群落水平上给出不同粒级浮游生物氮吸收特征的定量描述，从而为新生产力研究，生态系能流分配和生源要素生物地化循环研究提供重要参数。