Sterenes in suspended particulate matter in the eastern tropical North Pacific
Sterenes in suspended particulate matter in the eastern tropical North Pacific
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DOI：
10.1038/308840a0
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发表时间：
1984-04
期刊：
影响因子：
64.8
通讯作者：
S. Wakeham;R. Gagosian;J. Farrington;E. Canuel
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
S. Wakeham;R. Gagosian;J. Farrington;E. Canuel
海洋中的颗粒物质在操作上分为两个池。大颗粒（约32 µm），如浮游动物粪便颗粒和海洋雪，迅速下沉，并主导海洋中有机物的垂直通量1 -4。这些相对稀少的颗粒通常收集在沉积物收集器中，以每天数十至数百米的速度下沉5 - 8，导致不稳定的颗粒有机物从真光层和中层的生产地点大量流入深海9 -14。另一方面，较细的悬浮物（<12 µm）占颗粒物现存量的主导地位1。小颗粒每天只有几米的下沉速度，导致在水柱中的停留时间很长，在此期间，悬浮有机物可能发生重大变化。来源和转化过程涉及颗粒有机物在海水和最近的沉积物可以通过研究各类特定的有机标记化合物，包括类固醇追踪9，11，15-18。我们在这里报告的表观生产sterenes（甾体烯烃）悬浮颗粒物内的最低含氧区在赤道太平洋墨西哥中部，这提供了进一步的证据表明水柱过程的重要性的早期阶段的生物甾醇的甾烷存在于成熟的沉积物中的转化。
Particulate matter in the oceans is operationally partitioned into two pools. Large (≳ 32 µm) particles, such as zooplankton faecal pellets and marine snow, sink rapidly and dominate the vertical flux of organic matter in the oceans1–4. These relatively rare particles, usually collected in sediment traps, sink at rates of tens to hundreds of metres per day5–8leading to a significant flux of labile particulate organic matter from sites of production in the euphotic and mesopelagic zones to the deep ocean9–14. Finer (≲ 2 µm) suspended material, on the other hand, dominates the standing stock of particulate matter1. Sinking rates of only a few metres per day for small particles result in long residence times in the water column during which major transformations of the suspended organic matter may occur. Source and transformation processes involving particulate organic matter in seawater and Recent sediments may be traced by studying various classes of specific organic marker compounds, including the steroids9,11,15–18. We report here the apparent production of sterenes (steroidal alkenes) on suspended particulate matter within the oxygen minimum zone in the equatorial Pacific Ocean off central Mexico; this provides further evidence of the importance of water column processes on early stages of the transformation of biogenic sterols to the steranes present in mature sediments.