In situ Sampler for Marine Sedimentary Pore Waters: Evidence for Potassium Depletion and Calcium Enrichment

Abstract

A device for sampling the interstitial waters of deep-sea sediments in situ has been developed and tested. The sampler collects a series of samples over a depth of 1.5 meters in the sediment and thus makes possible the accurate delineation of chemical gradients existing in the pore waters. Samples collected in the North Atlantic indicate that significant gradients of K(+) and Ca(2+) exist in the sediments sampled. Interstitial solutions sampled between Ireland and Cape Cod, Massachusetts, are characterized by the depletion of K(+) and the enrichment of Ca(2+).