Ocean Science
Ocean Science
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Articles | Volume 21, issue 6
Articles | Volume 21, issue 6
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-21-3427-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Special issue:
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-21-3427-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Articles | Volume 21, issue 6
Review article
 | Highlight paper
 | 
11 Dec 2025
Review article | Highlight paper |  | 11 Dec 2025

Silicification in the ocean: from molecular pathways to silicifiers' ecology and biogeochemical cycles

Ivia Closset, J. Jotautas Baronas, Fiorenza Torricella, Félix de Tombeur, Bianca T. P. Liguori, Alessandra Petrucciani, Natasha Bryan, María López-Acosta, Yelena Churakova, Antonia U. Thielecke, Zhouling Zhang, Natalia Llopis Monferrer, Rebecca A. Pickering, Mathis Guyomard, and Dongdong Zhu

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Co-editor-in-chief
This paper in the Ocean Science Jubilee Special Issue is a multidisciplinary review of silicon in the ocean (and in fact also in the earth system). It presents "everything you ever wanted to know about silicates but were afraid to ask". In addition to its scientific excellence and thoroughness as a review, it is also noteworthy for being entirely conceived and written by a group of early career researchers who decided to work together on this topic. We commend their initiative!
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Short summary
This review explores how various forms of marine life, from picoplankton to giant sponges, transform and control silicon to form silica-based structures, and how this process shapes the ocean silicon cycle. It also highlights the overlooked role of dynamic boundary zones where land, seafloor and ice meet seawater, and explains how combining biology and geochemistry can improve paleoceanographic proxies, biogeochemical models, and predictions of climate-driven changes in ocean productivity.
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Ocean Science Jubilee: reviews and perspectives