What is Marine Chemistry?
Marine Chemistry is the branch of chemistry where marine environments and different variables of marine ecosystem is studied.
What are the major marine resources?
• Fisheries
• Oil
• Gas
• Minerals
• Sand & Gravels
• Renewable Energy
What are the major supporting and regulating marine services?
• Waste disposal, absorption and detoxification
• CO2 capture and storage
• Nutrient cycling
• Water circulation and exchange
• Gas and climate regulation
What does 3.5% salinity mean?
The dissolved salt content of a water body or soil is termed as saltiness or salinity. The typical salinity of seawater is 35 g/kg. It means the total salt content is 3.5% by mass.
What are the major ions present in seawater of 3.5% salinity?
Major Ions in seawater of salinity 3.5% is given below-
| Ions | % of Total | Ions | % of Total |
| Chloride | 55.29 | Sulfate | 7.75 |
| Sodium | 30.74 | Calcium | 1.18 |
| Magnesium | 3.69 | Potassium | 1.14 |
Seawater composition (by mass) (salinity = 3.5%)
| Element | Percent | Element | Percent |
| Oxygen | 85.84 | Sulfur | 0.091 |
| Hydrogen | 10.82 | Calcium | 0.04 |
| Chloride | 1.94 | Potassium | 0.04 |
| Sodium | 1.08 | Bromine | 0.0067 |
| Magnesium | 0.1292 | Carbon | 0.0028 |
How big is the marine ecosystem?
The biggest ecosystem is the planet earth itself. The next bigger one-The Marine Ecosystem. We know that 70% of earth’s surface is water. So, someone might tempted that marine environment contributes 70% of the planet ecosystem too. In fact, marine ecosystem accounts for more than 97% of that. Practically the total marine ecosystem is divided into many smaller ecosystem like “The Gulf of Mexico Regional Marine Ecosystem”. Scientists discovered several marine ecosystems in Europe too. Do you know that the seabed of Gulf of Mexico ecosystem supplies around half of the U.S. energy supply. If you are interested please check this link.
Is it possible to pollute oceans?
Previously, people believed that the oceans are so vast and deep, therefore, it is not possible to pollute the oceans significantly no matter how much trash and chemicals you dumped into them. You probably heard that “The solution to pollution is dilution.“ To be honest, this philosophy destroyed the thriving marine ecosystem on the brink of collapse.
What are the kinds of marine pollution?
There are five main kinds of marine pollution:
• Pollution from land-based sources, such as rivers, estuaries, pipelines and outfall structures
• Pollution from exploitation of the mineral resources of the sea-bed e.g. oil & gas exploration
• Pollution from ships, i.e. the disposal of wastes or other matter from the seagoing ships
• Pollution by dumping, i.e. the deliberate disposal of wastes or other matter from aircraft, platforms or other man-made structures at sea
• Pollution through the atmosphere.
What are the major threats to the marine ecosystem?
–oil spills
–untreated sewage
–heavy siltation
–eutrophication (nutrient enrichment)
–invasive species, –persistent organic pollutants (POP’s)
–heavy metals from mine tailings and other sources
– acidification
–radioactive substances
–marine litter
–overfishing and destruction of coastal and marine habitats
What are the major manmade marine pollutants?
pesticides, herbicides, chemical fertilizers, PCBs and dioxins, detergents, oil, sewage, plastics, and other solids, certain metals (such as cadmium, mercury, lead, chromium) and petroleum,. Many of these pollutants collect at the ocean’s depths, where they are consumed by small marine organisms and introduced into the global food chain.
- pesticides
- herbicides
- chemical fertilizers
- PCBs and dioxins
- detergents
- sewage
- plastics and other solids
Many of these pollutants are consumed by the marine organisms and then through the sea fish, they enter into the global food chain. Ocean currents corral billions of plastic items and other trash into a massive patch known as Trash Vortex. One of them in the North Pacific by the size of Texas called “Pacific Trash Vortex”.
The dead zones in the marine ecosystem
Scientists have discovered more than 400 dead zones where little to no marine life can survive. Plastics, bags, foam, packaging materials, and other solid wastes dumped into the oceans or carried out by the rivers are consumed by the marine animals. You can imagine the fatal effects. Fish and other marine life get caught on discarded fishing nets thrown into the sea over years. One surprise effect that you cannot even imagine that fertilizers and other nutrients applied in the farmland far from the sea carried out by the river streams and eventually deposited in the bays and deltas. These excess nutrients trigger massive algae blooms and eventually lowered the dissolved oxygen, in effect, no marine life can exist in that water body.
What are the major causes of oil pollution in the oceans?
• Oil spills happen when people make mistakes or are careless and cause an oil tanker to leak oil into the ocean
• Equipment breaking down may cause an oil spill.
• When countries are at war, one country may decide to dump gallons of oil into the other country’s oceans
• Terrorists may cause an oil spill because they will dump oil into a country’s ocean to get the country’s attention
What are the impacts of oil pollutions on marine biota?
Oil spills and oil poisoning impacts can be categorized into long-term and short-term effects.
Suffocation is a major short-term effect. Since oil is lighter than water it floats on top of the water. Therefore less light can penetrate into the water, limiting the photosynthesis of marine plants and phytoplankton. Oil spills also reduce dissolved oxygen of the water even less than the deep sea. You can check this article on dissolved oxygen for more information.
Sometimes fish die on suffocation and birds become temped to catch them. When birds come in contact of oil spills, the oil penetrates and opens up the structure of the birds plumage. Eventually it reduces the insulating ability, and the birds become more vulnerable to temperature fluctuations. Nonetheless, the birds’ flight abilities get impaired making it difficult or impossible to escape from predators.
Animals that come in contact with the high concentrations of oil die of oil poisoning. Microorganisms that play vital roles in marine ecosystems and young sea creatures are more venerable to the oil pollution. Other animals living near the sea are also threatened.
Sedimentation is one of the major long-term effects. Suspended oil bonded with minerals and gain weight, therefore, cannot float anymore. They settled on the seafloor and harm the marine ecosystem. Scientists have observed that sediments begin to move after oil settles on the seafloor.
Abatement of marine pollution
Several international and national protocols now forbid the dumping of harmful materials into the ocean.
• London Convention
• 1973 Convention
• The Protocol of 1997
• The 2006 amendments
Are the protocols effective for marine pollutions?
You may debate on that issue. But the best way is to reduce the ecological footprint left behind by the average human. “Individually, pollute less”.
1. Education
2. Awareness
3. Research
4. Dissemination
It’s true that these actions may save our bountiful marine ecosystem for the generations to come but it requires both social and political involvement.
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