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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 April 2016
Studies of chemical composition of the atmospheres of F-K supergiants have revealed the existence of two specific peculiarities, deficit of carbon and excess of nitrogen. Anomalous abundances of C and N in yellow supergiants is explained by mixing of surface material with CNO-processed material of stellar interiors (the first dredge-up). Somewhat unexpectedly, F-K supergiants were found to show one more general chemical peculiarity: overabundance of sodium. Fig.1 shows the available values of [Na/H]=log[N(Na)/N(H)]*−log[N(Na)/N(H)]⊙ as summarized by Boyarchuk and Lyubimkov( 1983). Different symbols refer to data of various authors. Fig.1 shows that sodium overabundance increases with the decrease of surface gravity. For small log g it reaches [Na/H] ~ ~ 1. Recently Sasselov(1986) has suggested that this correlation is essentially a consequence of a relation between [Na/H] and a mass of supergiant.