BRD etl d\n Rech adh a on Hae Ba a! Raecicati De Waal|
ideeee aie
ships
rium
sion
and
the
s of
acthe
and
1.
e to
phyta does not alter the significance of the correla-
and that their concentration in the organism would be
directly proportional to its caleium content. Although
tion.
As might be expected, the correlation between protein nitrogen and total organic material was also
there is no biological evidence of this in a calcium
carbonate system, there are many instances of radium
localization at sites where calcification occurs in the
highly significant (@ = 0.57 for f = 64). However,if
bones of animals. Inferences have been made concerning calcium metabolism on the basis of this localiza-
the regression analysis is carried out according to
et MMR orem
ranic
ined.
<remgl enon ne eat
11
phyta, the correlation for Chlorophyta and Phaeo-
phyta is highly significant while there is no correla-
tion.*) There is, thus, the widely held belief that
In all of the species of algae analyzed in this study
the apatite (calcium phosphate) system. Similarly,
tion for the Rhodophyta.
radium may be used as a tracer for calcium at least in
calctum carbonate is laid down and normally retained
as the orthorhombic crystalline form aragonite,
which, while being metastable under manyconditions,
is the most common modification in warm tropical
waters.) The exchange or coprecipitation of radium
or uranyl ions with calcium in the aragonite lattice
is possible because there should be neither steric problems nor restrictions on the formation of solid solutions due to ionic size (particularly at the extremely
orode:ontion
vith
‘Ing
while data for uranium metabolism are relatively
scarce, the uranyl ion is found in all natural apatite
deposits. In the case of thorium and its
solution chemistry under the conditions
salinity found in seawater is complex, it
whether any thorium would be present
form to act as a tracer for calcium.
The relationships between radium, thorium, and
uranium with calcium are shown in Figures 4 to 6.
The lines drawn through the experimental data were
derived from the regression analyses for each set of
low concentrations of these two ions). Therefore it
would be expected that either of these two ions
' to
data. These analyses (Table 3) show that (1) there
(Rat++ or UOT) could act as a tracer for calcium
spit ABI. 1S ans eheneacpeniea
T4
°
|
URANIUM (jgm/gm)
SS FOENONE Lee ening
2.0
0.5>o
00
Oo
joo
0
Oo
O CHLOROPHYCEAE
A
On
!
0.1
D RHODOPHYCEAE
oO
ions, whose
of pH and
is uncertain
in an ionic
A PHAEOPHYCEAE
|
0.2
|
0.3
0.4
CALCIUM( gm/gm)}
Fic, 6.—The variation in the concentration of uranium with the degree of calcification of the algae