Seawater carbonate chemistry and survival, impairment of three phytoplankton species in a laboratory experiment

Sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) is widely used to disinfect seawater in power plant cooling systems in order to reduce biofouling, and in ballast water treatment systems to prevent transport of exotic marine species. While the toxicity of NaOCl is expected to increase by ongoing ocean acidification, and many experimental studies have shown how algal calcification, photosynthesis and growth respond to ocean acidification, no studies have investigated the relationship between NaOCl toxicity and increased CO2. Therefore, we investigated whether the impacts of NaOCl on survival, chlorophyll a (Chl-a), and effective quantum yield in three marine phytoplankton belonging to different taxonomic classes are increased under high CO2 levels. Our results show that all biological parameters of the three species decreased under increasing NaOCl concentration, but increasing CO2 concentration alone (from 450 to 715 µatm) had no effect on any of these parameters in the organisms. However, due to the synergistic effects between NaOCl and CO2, the survival and Chl-a content in two of the species, Thalassiosira eccentrica and Heterosigma akashiwo, were significantly reduced under high CO2 when NaOCl was also elevated. The results show that combined exposure to high CO2 and NaOCl results in increasing toxicity of NaOCl in some marine phytoplankton. Consequently, greater caution with use of NaOCl will be required, as its use is widespread in coastal waters.

Isotopic composition and chemistry of pore waters from ODP Site 195-1201 sediments, West Philippine Basin

This report summarizes chemical and isotopic data from Ocean Drilling Program Leg 195 Site 1201. Pore water is divided into three intervals based on the rate of chemical change with depth. The shallowest interval is the red clay unit between 1.26 and 56.40 meters below seafloor (mbsf). In this section, there are overall decreases in the concentrations of alkalinity, boron, lithium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, and sulfate, whereas concentrations of calcium and chloride increase. Values of d18O and dD plot near standard mean ocean water to the right of the global meteoric water line (GMWL). Five samples from 72.60 and 83.33 mbsf yielded pore water for analyses. These samples help define a trend in the second interval, which is between 56.4 and 238.98 mbsf. Here, concentrations of magnesium, potassium, sodium, and sulfate decease, whereas concentrations of boron, calcium, and chloride increase. Concentrations of alkalinity and lithium remain roughly constant. The deepest interval, between 238.04 and 504.8 mbsf, has comparatively slower decreases of sodium and sulfate, increases of calcium and chloride, slow increases of alkalinity and lithium, and roughly constant concentrations of magnesium, potassium, and boron. Values of d18O and dD in pore water between 146.98 and 504.80 mbsf plot in a linear trend to the right of the GMWL.