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Occurrence of structural aluminum (Al) in marine diatom biological silica: Visible evidence from microscopic analysis
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  • Qian Tian,
  • Dong Liu,
  • Peng Yuan,
  • Mengyuan Li,
  • Weifeng Yang,
  • Jieyu Zhou,
  • Huihuang Wei,
  • Junming Zhou,
  • Haozhe Guo
Qian Tian
Guangzhou Institute of geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Dong Liu
Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences
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Peng Yuan
Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences
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Mengyuan Li
Guangzhou Institute of geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences
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Weifeng Yang
Xiamen University
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Jieyu Zhou
Guangzhou Institute of geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences
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Huihuang Wei
Guangzhou Institute of geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences
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Junming Zhou
Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences
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Haozhe Guo
Guangzhou Institute of geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences
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Abstract

The global marine biogeochemical cycle of aluminum (Al) is believed to be driven by marine diatoms, due to the uptake of dissolved Al (DAl) by living diatoms from surface seawater. However, whether or not Al is incorporated into the structure of biogenic silica (BSi) of living marine diatoms is still unclear, which hinders the understanding of Al biogeochemical processes. In this study, visible evidence of structural Al in BSi of the living marine diatom, for the first time, was presented. The direct evidence is obtained based on the observation for the Thalassiosira weissflogii, a widely distributed marine diatom by focused ion beam (FIB) scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). The structural Al exhibited a homogeneous distribution in the BSi with the average Al/Si atomic ratio of 0.011. The fundamental results indicate the significant contribution of marine diatoms to the biogeochemical migration of marine Al.