Marine chemistry is the scientific study of the chemical composition, speciation, reactions, and biogeochemical cycles of substances in the marine environment, including seawater, sediments, and marine aerosols. It addresses the distributions and transformations of major, minor, and trace elements, dissolved gases, nutrients, and organic compounds, and how these are controlled by physical processes (mixing, circulation), biological activity (production, remineralization), and interactions with the atmosphere and lithosphere. Research in marine chemistry underpins understanding of ocean acidification, carbon cycling, redox dynamics, contaminant fate, and the chemical controls on marine ecosystems and climate-relevant processes.
From coral reefs and kelp forests to the open ocean and deep-sea zones, nutrients that support phytoplankton growth and marine productivity form the foundation of oceanic ecosystems. When levels of key nutrients—such as nitrate ...
Environment
Mar 12, 2026
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In some parts of the deep ocean, it can look like it's snowing. This "marine snow" is the dust and detritus that organisms slough off as they die and decompose. Marine snow can fall several kilometers to the deepest parts ...
Earth Sciences
Mar 9, 2026
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How is carbon metabolized and processed in different ecosystems? In a study published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment, researchers led by Joely Maak, the study's first author and researcher in the Cluster ...
Earth Sciences
Mar 9, 2026
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Cyanobacteria, as they still exist today, were the first organisms to carry out photosynthesis and release oxygen. Produced in primeval oceans about 2.5 billion years ago, this oxygen accumulated in Earth's atmosphere on ...
Earth Sciences
Feb 26, 2026
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For scientists who study the Southern Ocean, a long-standing silver lining in the gloomy forecast of climate change has been the theory of iron fertilization. As temperatures rise and glaciers in Antarctica melt, ice-trapped ...
Earth Sciences
Feb 26, 2026
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As carbon emissions continue to be pumped into the atmosphere at record levels, it will be critical to recapture and sequester as much of these warming gases as possible. While technological approaches face many barriers ...
Ecology
Feb 9, 2026
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For many years, the deep ocean has been seen as a nutrient-poor environment where microbes living in the water survive on very limited resources. But new research from the University of Southern Denmark (SDU) challenges that ...
Ecology
Feb 9, 2026
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Earth's ocean absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, helping to temper the impact of climate change but increasing ocean acidity. However, calcium carbonate minerals found in the seabed act as a natural antacid: Higher ...
Earth Sciences
Feb 2, 2026
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A team of scientists announced Tuesday they have developed new deep-sea landers specifically to test their contentious discovery that metallic rocks at the bottom of the ocean are producing "dark oxygen".
Earth Sciences
Jan 20, 2026
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Through new experiments, researchers in Japan and Germany have recreated the chemical conditions found in the subsurface ocean of Saturn's moon, Enceladus. Published in Icarus, the results show that these conditions can readily ...
