Every process we use happens in the ocean. Some are of lesser or greater importance, but all happen. Some, involving purely man made materials (e.g., Purigen) mimic processes that happen with related natural materials (e.g., proteins).
Acetate (the organic in vinegar) is common and is fairly rapidly processed in marine sediments:
Turnover of 14C-labelled acetate in marine sediments
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00394618?LI=true
" In the upper 10 cm of the sediments 2–70 nmol acetate cm-3 sediment was found."
Note that 70 nmol/cm3 = 70 micromole/L = 4,200 ug/L = 4.2 ppm!
"The rate constants ranged from 1.5–13 h-1 in the investigated sediments. "
Binding of phosphate to iron oxides is a primary part of the phosphorus cycle in some parts of the ocean:
The phosphorus cycle in coastal marine sediments
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.4319/lo.1992.37.6.1129/full
"In the oxidizing surface sediment, a major portion of the sedimentation flux of organic phosphorus is mineralized, and the released phosphate is partitioned between the pore water and surface adsorption sites. Surface-adsorbed phosphate is released to the pore water as needed to replace dissolved phosphate that escapes to the overlying water. Most of the phosphate is released deeper in the sediment column from iron oxides undergoing reduction. "
Binding of phosphate to iron and aluminum in sediments:
Phosphorus Forms Related to Sediment Grain Size and Geochemical Characteristics in French Coastal Areas
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272771401907668
". It has been shown that the exchangeable and Fe/Al phosphate were preferentially associated with the fine particles (<63 um) in the three studied areas, but that, in the more sandy sediments of the Bay of Seine, these forms were also found in significant concentrations in the larger size classes."
Skimming:
Bubble Scavenging and the Water-to-Air Transfer of Organic Material in the Sea
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ba-1975-0145.ch018
"Surface-active organic material (SAOM) in the sea tends to concentrate at the surface. It is brought there by diffusion, by Langmuir circulations, and by the surfaces of air bubbles rising through the water. These bubbles, produced primarily by breaking waves, not only carry SAOM to the surface but upon breaking eject it into the air. This process may account for the airborne droplets of sea water in the marine atmosphere which have SAOM concentrations several thousand times that found in the sea. The SAOM on the droplets has given marine meteorologists a tracer which enables them to understand better the role of these droplets in rain formation."
Lanthanum
It appears that lanthanum phosphate precipitation in the deep ocean may be what limits the lanthanum concentration of seawater, and why it doesn't rise higher from river inputs:
Rare earth precipitation and coprecipitation behavior: The limiting role of PO43− on dissolved rare earth concentrations in seawater
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0016703793903643
"Model calculations of lanthanum speciation (BYRNE et al., 1988, 199 1) and phosphate speciation ( MILLERO and SCHREIRER, 1982), in conjunction with the above solubility data, indicate that saturation equilibrium with respect to LaP04 * nHl0 (s) can be attained under normal seawater conditions (i.e., pH = 7.8; ZCOz = 2.3 X 10F3 mol kg-‘) if the product of total dissolved lanthanum and total dissolved phosphorous is on the order of 1 X lo-” mol* kg-‘. Examination of previously reported lanthanum and phosphate water column profiles then indicates that the deep waters of the world oceans are approximately at saturation with respect to the insoluble phosphate salt, LaP04. nH*O(s)."
"We regard these results as indicating that the rare earths in seawater below 300 m are approximately at saturation with respect to a relatively fresh REE phosphate coprecipitate."
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