Program
 
Special Session 2: Changing ocean environment: from the sedimentary perspective -- processes and records
 
 
 
Poster
Biogeochemical characteristics of suspended particles in the inner continental shelf of the East China Sea
SS2-13-S
Lin Wang* , State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science and Department of Geological Oceanography, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China
Qianqian Liu, State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science and Department of Geological Oceanography, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China
Baozhi Lin, State Key Laboratory of Marine Geology, Tongji University, Shanghai, China
Chen-Tung Arthur Chen, Department of Oceanography, National Sun Yat-sen University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, ROC
Selvaraj Kandasamy, State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science and Department of Geological Oceanography, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China
Presenter Email: 532046572@qq.com
The shallow and wider continental shelf of the East China Sea receives a huge quantity of sediment and organic matter; both are influenced to a great degree by complex hydrodynamic conditions, especially during autumn and winter seasons while NE monsoon winds prevail on the East China Sea. In this paper, we examine particulate organic carbon and nitrogen (POC and PN) and their stable isotopic compositions (¦Ä13C and ¦Ä15N) of total suspended particles collected at the depth of approximately 30 m in the East China Sea during winter 2013 to understand the sources, distribution and the fate of suspension particulate organic matter in the water column. The result show that concentrations of POC and PN in the water column increased with the content of total suspended matter, and the average POC was in general higher in near shore stations than that found in offshore stations, indicating a southward transport of fine particles from the Yangtze estuary along the coast by China Coastal Current in winter. Compared to surface sediments in the East China Sea (include here surface sediments values), suspended particles show wider ranges of ¦Ä13C (‒24.3¡ë to ‒21.3¡ë) and ¦Ä15N (2.33¡ë to 7.14¡ë) values with heavier ¦Ä13C and larger ¦Ä15N across the shelf and vice versa on the northern and southern stations of the inner shelf. Such a distribution pattern is mostly likely created by the combined influence of the Yangtze- and Taiwan-derived particles as well as resuspended surface sediments from the seafloor. Here we also applied a simple two end-member carbon isotope mixing model and estimated that on average, ~32% of organic carbon is from terrigenous sources, while the remaining comes from marine sources. Furthermore, this study will evaluate the effect of winter circulation on the distribution patterns of suspended particles and organic matter in the East China Sea.