The course focuses on the study of the main natural sources of materials into the ocean, their pathways and chemical composition as well as of the processes that interact and shape their distributions and variability in the ocean reservoir. Moreover the geochemistry of sediments and the chemical diagenetic processes are studied. State-of-the-art methodologies and tools used for the study of the biogeochemical processes accompanied by examples of recent measurements and results from the Mediterranean and Black Sea are also presented. 

The course covers the following topics: 

• The input of material to the ocean reservoir 

• Transport of materials from rivers to the sea, the behavior of chemical elements in the estuarine mixing zone, dissolved-particulate phase interactions in estuaries  

• Transport of material to the ocean via the atmosphere, the chemistry of the marine aerosol  

• Transport of materials to the ocean from the sea-bottom hydrothermal activity-Relative importance of the main transport pathways. 

• Total suspended matter in the sea, changes of size and chemical composition of sinking particles – Particle sinking rates.  

• Organic matter in the sea, Production and degradation of particulate organic matter, downward particle flux and primary production. Distribution and chemical changes of dissolved organic matter. 

• Trace elements in seawater, Geographical (spatial) distributions of trace elements in surface waters, vertical distribution of trace elements in the water column, Trace element speciation, Organic complexation – Trace metal-biota relationships Hydride elements and methylation, Principal mechanisms for the removal of trace elements from sea water. 

• Formation and components of marine sediments, sediment interstitial waters, chemical diagenetic processes.