ABSTRACT

Introduction It is hard to improve on this inspiring prose, describing so graphically as it does a process which continues to excite and tantalise marine scientists. It is widely accepted that the means by which material is transported down to the abyssal depths and the rates at which this occurs present a range of fundamental questions. These are of direct interest to a wide variety of scientists, from those interested in global biogeochemical cycling (see Chapter 11) to, for instance, those keen to understand the population dynamics of the deep sea benthic fauna (see Chapter 13).