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and movement of radioisotopes in the sea.

The ability of plankton

organisms to rapidly acquire a large part of the radioactivity in
the sea and to make diurnal vertical migrations from the relatively
fast moving and well mixed surface layer of the ocean to the slow
moving stratified water layers of the deeper ocean has been demonstrated.

A study of the fundamental processes involved in the

translocation of radioisotopes by a plankton population has been
initiated and a report of the state of progress of this research
was given at the second Geneva conference on the peaceful uses of
atomic energy

(Ketchum and Bowen,

1958).

In addition to the analyses to determine the radioisotopes
present in plankton,

clams,

similar analyses have been made of algae,

fish and many of the land plants and some of the land aninals.

A few of the
Table 2.

analyses for algae,

clams and fish are given in

The results as given in the Table are comparable from

one sample to another only in a general way because the specimens
have been collected from areas that have received fallout at various times ranging from a few days to ten years.

Although the

analyses of the land plants and animals are not given, there is a
striking difference between the land and the sea in the biological

distribution of the fission products and non-fission products
sition elements).

In general the transition elements iron,

(tanzinc,

cobalt and manganese are present in marine animals but in very

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