Diatoms and silicoflagellates in suspension and floor sediments of the Pacific Ocean

Abstract

In the eight climatic zones of the Pacific, a direct spatial-geographical correspondence is proved between density of diatom populations (together with the quantitatively unimportant associated silicoflagellates) and the relative abundance of their siliceous relics in sediments on the oceanic floor. This correspondence is almost ideal in the Subantarctic zone, demonstrable in the Subarctic zone and the equatorial belt, but is complicated (beyond recognition, in places) by terrigenic and other diluent materials and/or by the high solubility of the shells of certain species which never reach the ocean floor. There is no evidence of any significant drift of diatom relics during their sedimentation; the practical absence of diatoms, as in the Southern Subtropical zone, has its clear expression in the absence of their relics in the zonal sediments. — IGR Staff.