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World map data showing the Great Calcite Belt.

World map data showing the Great Calcite Belt.
World map data showing the Great Calcite Belt.
World map data showing the Great Calcite Belt.
World map data showing the Great Calcite Belt.
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289630
Rosengard, Sarah
World map data showing the Great Calcite Belt.
Illustration
01/12/2016
15G0739-Sarah Rosengard Illustrations-Map.jpg
Image Of the Day caption:
The Great Calcite Belt appears from space as a vast milky-white band in the ocean encircling Antarctica. Its color comes from rich concentrations of the mineral calcite in waters near the surface. Scientists hypothesize that these high calcite concentrations are produced by massive blooms of algae that make plates out of calcite. Sarah Rosengaard, a graduate student in the MIT-WHOI joint Program in Oceanography, participated in research cruises to collect seawater samples from the Great Calcite Belt and used the Plasma Mass Spectometry Facility at WHO to measure calcium, an elemental component of calcite, in the samples.
Caption from Oceanus magazine, Vol. 51, No. 2, pg. 86:
The Great Calcite Belt appears from space as a vast milky-white band in the ocean encircling Antarctica. Its color comes from rich concentrations of the mineral calcite in the waters near the surface. Scientists hypothesize that these high calcite concentrations are produced by massive blooms of algae that make plates from the mineral calcite.
Illustration based on data from W.M. Balch, D.T. Drapeau, B.C. Bowler, E. Lyczskowski, E.S. Booth, and D. Alley
© Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
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