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Nutrient Salts in the Mediterranean

Abstract

THE well-known sterility of the Mediterranean Sea compared with the neighbouring waters of the Atlantic Ocean finds a ready explanation in the chemical investigations carried out on board the Danish research vessel Dana by Helge Thomsen in the summer of 1930.* Determinations were made at all depths at stations in the southern Mediterranean of the nutrient salts, phosphate and nitrate, known to be essential for the growth and reproduction of the phytoplankton, which in turn form the foodstuff, directly or indirectly, of almost all other life in the sea. The results are striking.

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C., L. Nutrient Salts in the Mediterranean. Nature 129, 730–731 (1932). https://doi.org/10.1038/129730b0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/129730b0

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