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Growth rate of a clam from the Galapagos Rise hot spring field using natural radionuclide ratios

Abstract

THE submarine hydrothermal springs on the Galapagos Rift are the sites of lush biological populations supported ultimately by sulphur-oxidising bacteria utilising hydrogen sulphide transported from depth by the springs1. Two types of bivalves, one a mytilid mussel and the other a vesicomyid, have been recovered from these thermal regions. The shells of these organisms are as much as 30 cm long. We are determining growth rates of these organisms using a method which measures natural radionuclide content2. In this report we present our first results on a clam collected in the February–March 1977 Alvin dive series.

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TUREKIAN, K., COCHRAN, J. & NOZAKI, Y. Growth rate of a clam from the Galapagos Rise hot spring field using natural radionuclide ratios. Nature 280, 385–387 (1979). https://doi.org/10.1038/280385a0

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