Estimation of the role of global biological filters in the geochemical migration of trace elements in the ocean: The marginal filter of the ocean

A quantitative estimate has been made for the contribution of biological processes to accumulation and transformation of the trace elements in the marginal biofilter of the ocean. It has been demonstrated that the proportion of phytoplankton having the largest biomass reaches 96–99% of the total mass of trace elements accumulated by biota. The mass of trace elements taken up by bivalved mollusks is tens to hundreds of times less than this, while that by macrophytes is an order of magnitude less than the latter. A dynamic parameter of the biogenic migration, namely the duration of the biological cycle of phytoplankton, has been calculated; this value does not exceed 2–3 days for Zn, Ni, Cu, Cd, Pb, Co, Fe, and Mn. First the trace metal balance in the whole body of mussels Mytilus spp. between the soft tissues and shells was calculated based on their weight proportion (0.1 and 0.9, correspondingly). As a result it was revealed that carbonate shells serve a great reservoir of Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu and As and biomineralization is an important process in their bioaccumulation. The suggested new approach can be applied when making environmental and geochemical estimates of biotic self-purification of water bodies and when using shells as mineral supplements.