Siliceous ooze - Wikipedia Siliceous ooze Siliceous ooze is a siliceous pelagic sediment that covers large areas of the deep ocean floor. Siliceous oozes consist predominantly of the remains of microscopic sea creatures, mostly those of diatoms and radiolarians. Sometimes siliceous oozes also contain silicoflagellates and the spicules of sponges. Diatoms are golden - brown algae that construct an opaline silica microscopic shell that is known as a `` frustule ''. Silicoflagellates are a minor group of marine algae that construct microscopic shells composed of opaline silica. Radiolarians are marine protists that also construct microscopic shells composed of opaline silica and are distant relatives of the foraminifera. Siliceous ooze accumulates on the ocean floor where the bottom waters are close to saturation with respect to silica, and the opaline remains of either diatoms, radiolarians, silicoflagellates, and sponge spicules, or combinations of these are rapidly buried. These conditions exist within areas of high biological productivity associated with volcanic islands and nutrient - rich upwelling zones. As the least common type of pelagic sediment, it covers only 15 % of the ocean floor. It accumulates at a slower rate than calcareous ooze : 0.2 -- 1 cm / 1000 yr. After burial, most siliceous oozes remain unconsolidated. However, a fraction of siliceous oozes dissolve and reprecipitate as a result of diagenesis to form chert beds or nodules. When siliceous oozes are incorporated into orogenic belts associated with subduction zones, they are also altered by diagenesis, and lithified to form chert, i.e. radiolarian chert. See also Diatomaceous earth References ^ Jump up to : Hüneke, H., and T. Mulder ( 2011 ) Deep - Sea Sediments. Developments in Sedimentology, vol. 63. Elsevier, New York. 849 pp. ISBN 978 - 0 - 444 - 53000 - 4 This article related to petrology is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Siliceous_ooze&oldid=788263841 '' Categories : Sedimentary rocks Chert Oceanography Diatom biology Petrology stubs Talk About Wikipedia Русский Українська Edit links This page was last edited on 30 June 2017, at 12 : 56. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia ® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. About Wikipedia

Question: where in the oceans are siliceous oozes typically found
Answer: deep ocean floor