Table 2. Comparison of size, sinking velocities and excess densities observed with the inclusion of different type of ballast material incorporated with previous studies.

Ballast material incorporated	Particle size range (mm)	Sinking speed range (m d-1)	Excess density range (mg cm-3)	Reference
Organic	1-3.4	13-160	0.1-1.3	This study
Opal	1.2-3	23-191	0.14-0.92
Calcite	1-2.9	45-283	0.3-2.3
Lithogenic	1-3.7	41-322	0.26-4.44
Natural aggregates*	0.3-0.6	160-280	ns	[21]
Natural aggregates*	1-20	20-200	0.01-10	[7]
Calcite+saharian dusts (formed from natural seawater)	1-6	100-600	ns	[9]
Opal	1-3	55-350	0.63-2.23	[17]
Calcite	1-2	25-63	3.36
Appendicularian fecal pellets*	0.5-0.7	500-900	180-320
Copepod fecal peletts	0.1	100-200	110-190
Opal	1-5	40-200	ns	[16]
Calcite	1-4	100-325	ns
Opal+calcite	1-4	50-200	ns
Calcite (several concentrations)	0.9-4.5	ns	0.2-56	[45] in [34]
Calcite - low CO2	2-4	850-1700	0.008-8	[19]
Calcite - medium CO2	2-3	432-1000	0.008-9
Calcite - high CO2	2.5-5	170-600	0.008-10
E . huxleyi				[20]
Calcite	0.7-2.4	86-1800	2.1-41
Organic	0.8-11	950-2160	0.02-15
Opal+lithogenic	0.08-0.6	200-400	2-100	[44]
Opal+lithogenic	0.1-0.8	300-800	2-200
Opal+lithogenic (various origin)	0.1-0.6	200-1000	1-100

^*in situ formed aggregates