Studies on boron along the central west coast of India

Abstract

Boron in its inorganic form in the Arabian Sea waters varies from 1.17 to 4.74 mg/kg. There is, at some stations, depthwise correlation between inorganic B and primary productivity. B/Cl varies from 0.122 to 0.238 for shallow stations and from 0.06 to 0.241 for deep stations with a mean B/Cl of 0.173 for the area surveyed. In the euphotic zone, B is utilized by phytoplankton during high productivity. Less defined correlation exists between inorganic B and the oxygen distribution in a vertical profile. Oxygen concentration at its minimum shows a corresponding release of B during oxidation of organic matter.