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Kristin Doering

Kristin Doering

Forskare

Kristin Doering

Did Algae Eat All the Silica in the World’s Oceans?

Författare

  • Rebecca Pickering
  • Kristin Doering

Summary, in English

Silicon is a crucial nutrient that can join with the element oxygen to form a substance commonly called silica. Silica, commonly known as glass, is found in rocks in the Earth’s crust and dissolves into the oceans, where organisms like algae and sponges use it to build their glassy skeletons. This process, called biosilicification, is extremely important in the silica cycle. Over time, organisms have changed the silica cycle. Today, because of these organisms, the oceans no longer contain much silica. However, when the Earth was younger and these organisms had not evolved yet, no biological processes affected silica in the oceans. The evolution of these oceanic organisms across time has removed silica from the oceans. In this article, we discuss how the evolution of silicon-using sponges, as well as tiny organisms called zooplankton and algae, have changed the amount of silica in the world’s oceans through geologic time.

Avdelning/ar

  • Berggrundsgeologi
  • Kvartärgeologi

Publiceringsår

2024-01-09

Språk

Engelska

Publikation/Tidskrift/Serie

Frontiers for Young Minds

Dokumenttyp

Artikel i tidskrift

Förlag

Frontiers Media S. A.

Ämne

  • Geochemistry

Nyckelord

  • silica
  • Diatoms
  • Geologic Time

Aktiv

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Övrigt

  • ISSN: 2296-6846