Modified Redfield Ratio
Some feel that there are other elements, such as potassium, sulfur, zinc, copper, and iron are also important in the ocean chemistry. In particular, iron (Fe) was considered of great importance as early biological oceanographers hypothesized that iron may also be a limiting factor for primary production in the ocean. As a result a Modified Redfield Ratio was developed to include this as part of this balance. This new stoichiometric ratio states that the ratio should be 106 C:16 N:1 P:0.1-0.001 Fe. The variation in iron is the result of “…iron contamination on ships and in labs is large and difficult to control. No one has been able to beat this nearly insuperable combination of difficulties.” (Broecker and Peng (1982)). It is this contamination that resulted in early evidence suggesting that iron concentrations were high and not a limiting factor in marine primary production.
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