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A Novel Approach Reveals Element Cycles in the Ocean

Dust storms from the Sahara supply many important chemical elements to the ocean. In a new study, researchers test how thorium can be used to quantify these elemental fluxes, which can be difficult to measure directly. Photo Credit: NASA

Dust storms from the Sahara supply many important chemical elements to the ocean. In a new study, researchers test how thorium can be used to quantify these elemental fluxes, which can be difficult to measure directly. Photo Credit: NASA

ST. PETERSBURG, FL – The ocean slurps up many important chemicals originating from natural events like massive dust storms in the Sahara. Quantifying these chemicals is tough business, especially for trace elements such as iron. A recent study in Global Biogeochemical Cycles co-authored by Tim Conway, Assistant Professor in the College of Marine Science, and others offers a new — and relatively simple — way to do it.

“This is really the first time we have used thorium measurements to provide insights into how different metals cycle through the ocean,” said Conway.

Reported by Aaron Sidder, Freelance Writer for EOS

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