Calcite: Rates of Dissolution in a Vertical Profile in the Central Pacific

Rate of dissoluton of calcium carbonate (calcite) was determined for a vertical profile 5000 mizeters deep in the central Pacific by measuring the loss of weight of optical calcite spheres arrayed on a mooring. Waters of the Pacific are undersaturated in all but the upper several hundred meters. A sharp increase in the rate of dissolution occurs at a depth of about 3700 meters, which corresponds closely to the depth below which calcite hias been dissolved from the sediments.