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Levasseur et al. 1998

Levasseur, S., Birck, J.L. and Allegre, C.J. (1998). Direct measurement of femtomoles of osmium and the Os-187/Os-186 ratio in seawater. Science 282(5387): 272-274.

Two depth profiles of the osmium concentration and the Os-187/Os-186 isotopic ratio in the Indian Ocean showed that the osmium concentration seems to be unaltered by chemical or biological processes occuring in seawater; accordingly, osmium is conservative. These data were obtained from an experimental method that eliminated the problems related to osmium preconcentration. This method led to a new evaluation of the concentration of osmium in seawater; the mean concentration of osmium and the Os-187/Os-186 ratio are equal to 10.86 +/- 0.07 picograms per kilogram and 8.80 +/- 0.07, respectively. The results suggest the existence of an organocomplex that dominates the speciation of osmium in seawater.

Keywords
isotopic composition, manganese nodules, sediments, oceans, sea

Journal
Science
http://www.sciencemag.org/

Publisher
American Association for the Advancement of Science
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