2. Marine Chemistry

Trace Elements — Quiz

Test your understanding of trace elements with 5 practice questions.

Practice Questions

Question 1

Which analytical technique is most commonly used to determine free metal ion concentrations and conditional stability constants of metal–ligand complexes in seawater?

Question 2

Which trace element exhibits a scavenged-type distribution with high surface concentration and rapid decline with depth?

Question 3

Under anoxic conditions in marine sediments, which process increases the dissolved concentrations of iron and manganese?

Question 4

If the total inventory of zinc in the ocean is $2\times10^{13}\,$mol and the annual input flux is $1\times10^{11}\,$mol/yr, what is the approximate residence time of zinc? Show calculation.

Question 5

Given a total dissolved metal concentration of $10\,$nM, an organic ligand concentration [L] of $18\,$nM, and a conditional stability constant $K=10\,\text{nM}^{-1}$, what fraction of the metal is complexed? Show calculation.