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Glossary of Chemical Oceanography Terms
Quartzite: A sandstone with its primary component being quartz. A sedimentary
rock with no porosity.
Quartzose Sandstone: A well- sorted sandstone that contains (if pure) more than 95% clear
quartz grains and 5% or less of matrix and cement.
Rare Earths: The 14 elements with similar properties formed by filling the 5 f- orbitals of
an atom (frequently called the lanthanides and with atomic numbers 57–70).
Rare Gas: The noble gases (He, Ne, Ar, Kr, Xe, Rn).
Residence Time: The average time that a substance remains in seawater before removal
by some precipitation or adsorption process.
Rhyolyte: Formed when magma of granitic composition erupts at the earth’s surface and
intrudes the crust at shallow depths. Because of the rapid cooling, only small crystals are able to form. Equivalent to plutonic granite, with excess silica.
River Input: The input of elements (N, P) from rivers to the oceans.
Rock Salt: A common form of NaCl occurring in large masses; formed by evaporative
processes.
Sandstone: The sedimentary rocks containing more than 50% fine-/medium- grain sand
(quartz, greywacke).
Saturation Concentration: The maximum equilibrium concentration at which any additional increase in concentration would result in precipitation.
Scavenging: The removal of an element from the water column by adsorption, absorption, biological uptake, precipitation, and so on.
Sedimentary Rocks: Rocks formed under moderate pressure from layers of accumulated
sediments (shale).
Sedimentation: The deposition of biogenic, authogenic, hydrogenic, and cosmogenic particles on the bottom of the ocean over a period of many years.
Shale: An easily split sedimentary rock having laminated layers of fine clay- like particles
(70 to 80% argillaceous minerals; the remainder is silt).
Stability Constants: The thermodynamic constant for formation of an ion pair or complex (K = Π[P]/Π[R] where Π[P] and Π[R] are the product of the activities or concentrations of the products P and reactants R, respectively).
Suboxic Layer: A depth layer of low oxygen that exists in some regions of the Pacific and
Indian oceans.
Surface Enrichment and Depletion Type Profile: The high values in the surface are
related to inputs from land or the atmosphere, while the low values in deep waters
are related to a rapid removal caused by adsorption, precipitation, and the like
(e.g., Pb).
Trace Elements: The elements in seawater with concentrations of 0.05–50 nM.
Transition Metals: Metallic elements with an outer d shell greater than zero and less than
10 electrons (Mn
2+ , Fe 2+ , Co 2+ , Ni 2+ ).
Volatiles: Compounds that are easily transformed from the liquid to vapor phase (HBr).
Volcanic Rocks: Rocks formed directly from molten rock that cooled quickly at or near
the earth’s surface (basalt, andestite, and rhyolite).
Volume Concentration Factor: The concentration of an element in an organism relative to
the concentration in a given volume of seawater.
Weathering of Rocks: The breakdown in the structure of rocks caused by rain, temperature changes, wind, and chemical reactions at or near the earth’s surface
(elements found in rocks are transported to the oceans via rivers and winds).
Glossary of Chemical Oceanography Terms
Quartzite: A sandstone with its primary component being quartz. A sedimentary
rock with no porosity.
Quartzose Sandstone: A well- sorted sandstone that contains (if pure) more than 95% clear
quartz grains and 5% or less of matrix and cement.
Rare Earths: The 14 elements with similar properties formed by filling the 5 f- orbitals of
an atom (frequently called the lanthanides and with atomic numbers 57–70).
Rare Gas: The noble gases (He, Ne, Ar, Kr, Xe, Rn).
Residence Time: The average time that a substance remains in seawater before removal
by some precipitation or adsorption process.
Rhyolyte: Formed when magma of granitic composition erupts at the earth’s surface and
intrudes the crust at shallow depths. Because of the rapid cooling, only small crystals are able to form. Equivalent to plutonic granite, with excess silica.
River Input: The input of elements (N, P) from rivers to the oceans.
Rock Salt: A common form of NaCl occurring in large masses; formed by evaporative
processes.
Sandstone: The sedimentary rocks containing more than 50% fine-/medium- grain sand
(quartz, greywacke).
Saturation Concentration: The maximum equilibrium concentration at which any additional increase in concentration would result in precipitation.
Scavenging: The removal of an element from the water column by adsorption, absorption, biological uptake, precipitation, and so on.
Sedimentary Rocks: Rocks formed under moderate pressure from layers of accumulated
sediments (shale).
Sedimentation: The deposition of biogenic, authogenic, hydrogenic, and cosmogenic particles on the bottom of the ocean over a period of many years.
Shale: An easily split sedimentary rock having laminated layers of fine clay- like particles
(70 to 80% argillaceous minerals; the remainder is silt).
Stability Constants: The thermodynamic constant for formation of an ion pair or complex (K = Π[P]/Π[R] where Π[P] and Π[R] are the product of the activities or concentrations of the products P and reactants R, respectively).
Suboxic Layer: A depth layer of low oxygen that exists in some regions of the Pacific and
Indian oceans.
Surface Enrichment and Depletion Type Profile: The high values in the surface are
related to inputs from land or the atmosphere, while the low values in deep waters
are related to a rapid removal caused by adsorption, precipitation, and the like
(e.g., Pb).
Trace Elements: The elements in seawater with concentrations of 0.05–50 nM.
Transition Metals: Metallic elements with an outer d shell greater than zero and less than
10 electrons (Mn
2+ , Fe 2+ , Co 2+ , Ni 2+ ).
Volatiles: Compounds that are easily transformed from the liquid to vapor phase (HBr).
Volcanic Rocks: Rocks formed directly from molten rock that cooled quickly at or near
the earth’s surface (basalt, andestite, and rhyolite).
Volume Concentration Factor: The concentration of an element in an organism relative to
the concentration in a given volume of seawater.
Weathering of Rocks: The breakdown in the structure of rocks caused by rain, temperature changes, wind, and chemical reactions at or near the earth’s surface
(elements found in rocks are transported to the oceans via rivers and winds).