ABSTRACT
This chapter presents fundamental knowledge about nutrients and a brief review of the highest elevation in Japan and the deepest terrains located in Shizuoka prefecture, central Japan, where the Research Institute of Green Science and Technology at Shizuoka University is located. The environment encompassing Mt. Fuji and the Suruga Bay is like a miniature earth and is a good place for understanding the linkage between land and ocean via nutrient transport over a water cycle. Nutrients are essential chemical compounds for all organisms as sources of elements and energy. Trace metals are representatives of trace nutrients. Iron (Fe) is the most-studied trace metal as it is contained in various enzymes. Fe is exported from land to the ocean by rivers, aerosols, and Submarine Groundwater Discharge. The Suruga Bay receives not only terrestrial waters but also plenty of open waters with different origins at the distinctive depths from the Pacific Ocean.
