A wet chemical extraction protocol for measuring biogenic silica in sediments of marginal seas and open ocean

This study describes a wet chemical extraction protocol for measuring the biogenic silica (bSi) in sediments from diverse marine environments. The protocol lists the reagents, materials, equipment, and sample preparation procedures, and provides a detailed explanation of the methods for examining the alkaline-leachable silicon (Si), and calculating bSi content. Although, the protocol was primarily developed for measuring bSi in sediments from the Chinese marginal seas, it was also validated using sediments from the Chesapeake Bay, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Southern Ocean. The protocol can be used to quantify bSi in recently deposited and aged sediments from the Holocene period. The protocol contributes to the ongoing efforts to minimize the methodological bias that exist in bSi quantification and the bSi burial flux evaluation, thereby assisting in our understanding of Si cycling in the modern ocean. • This protocol provides a step-by-step wet chemical extraction procedures and the measurement of dissolved Si in an alkaline solution using spectrophotometer. • This protocol is easy to set up and reproduce, and determines bSi content with high precision. • The protocol can be used to determine bSi in sediments of marginal seas and the open ocean.