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Holmes-Farley
Iodine in the OceanHolmes-Farley R
"Iodine in the ocean takes a wide variety of forms, both organic and inorganic, and the iodine cycles between these various compounds are very complex and are still an active area of research. The nature of inorganic iodine in the oceans has been generally known for decades. The two predominate forms are iodate (IO3-, with the central iodine and three attached oxygen atoms) and iodide (I-).... Together these two iodine species usually add up to about 0.06 ppm total iodine (~0.5 mM), but the reported values vary over about a factor of 2. In surface seawater, iodate usually is the dominant form with typical iodate values in the 0.04 to 0.06 ppm iodine (0.3 – 0.5 mM).2,3 Likewise, iodide is usually present at lower concentrations, typically 0.01 to 0.02 ppm iodine (0.07 – 0.18 mM)."
"Organic forms of iodine are any in which the iodine atom is covalently attached to a carbon atom, such as methyl iodide, CH3I. The concentrations of the organic forms (of which there are many different molecules) are only now becoming recognized by oceanographers. In some coastal areas, organic forms can comprise up to 40% of the total iodine, and many previous reports of organoiodine compounds being negligible may be incorrect...."
"All of these various forms can be interconverted in the oceans. Phytoplankton, for example, take up iodate and convert it into iodide, which is mostly, but not completely, released. One research group has suggested that iodate, looking chemically like nitrate, is taken up by the same pathways, and is internally converted to iodide before being released. This process is fast enough that in one local studied, the phytoplankton can convert all of the iodate present to iodide in a month. Iodate is also converted to iodide by bacteria in low oxygen environments of the oceans."
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