|
|
|
Burial of organic carbon and carbonate on inner
shelf of the northern South China Sea during the postglacial period |
| YANG Shouye1, YIM Wyss W.-S.2, TANG Min2, HUANG Guangqing3 |
| 1.State Key Laboratory of Marine Geology, Tongji University; 2.Department of Earth Sciences, The University of Hong Kong; 3.Guangzhou Institutes of Geography, 100 Xian Lie Road; |
|
|
|
|
Abstract Two vibrocores from the inner shelf off Hong Kong are investigated to compare the contents of organic and inorganic carbon in postglacial sediments. The compositions of organic elements and carbonate are highly variable in the core sediments, but overall drop within the compositional ranges of modern seabed sediments in the Zhujiang estuarine and its shelf area. The Holocene sediments in the inner shelf have never been subject to subaerial exposure and the organic matter and carbonate can be preserved well. The burial of carbon in river-dominated shelf environments is highly dependent on the river flux with time. Nevertheless, it is difficult to establish a simple relationship between carbon burial in sediments in relation to climatic changes of basin-wide scale due to complex controls of production, transport and deposition of organic matter and carbonate. Our study suggests that the organic carbon to nitrogen ratio can not reliably identify the sources of depositional organic matters because of selective decomposition of organic matter components during humification and sedimentation. Caution is therefore needed in using organic elemental compositions as indicators of organic matter sources and paleoenvironmental changes in the East Asian continental shelves where intense river-sea interaction and variable carbon flux in geologic record occur.
|
|
Issue Date: 05 December 2008
|
|
| 1 |
Hsieh M (2006). Geochemical characterization of organic matter in VictoriaHarbour sediments, Hong Kong. Dissertationfor the Doctoral Degree. Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma, 45–62
|
| 2 |
Huang G, Yim W W-S (2001). An 8000-yearrecord of typhoons in the northern South China Sea. Pages News, 9(2): 7–8
|
| 3 |
Jia G D, Peng P A, Fang D Y (2002). Burial of different types of organiccarbon in Core 17962 from South China Sea since the last glacial period. Quat Res, 58: 93–100.
doi:10.1006/qres.2002.2346
|
| 4 |
Lin S, Huang K M, Chen S K (2000). Organic carbon deposition and itscontrol on iron sulfide formation of the southern East China Sea continentalshelf sediments. Cont Shelf Res, 20: 619–635.
doi:10.1016/S0278-4343(99)00088-6
|
| 5 |
Meyers P A (1994). Preservation of source identification of sedimentaryorganic matter during and after deposition. Chem Geol, 144: 289–302.
doi:10.1016/0009-2541(94)90059-0
|
| 6 |
Meyers P A (1997). Organic geochemical proxies of paleoceanographic, paleolimnologic,and paleoclimatic processes. Organic Geochem, 27: 213–250.
doi:10.1016/S0146-6380(97)00049-1
|
| 7 |
Meyers P A (2003). Applications of organic geochemistry to paleolimnologicalreconstructions: a summary of examples from the Laurentian Great Lakes. Organic Geochem, 34: 261–289.
doi:10.1016/S0146-6380(02)00168-7
|
| 8 |
Owen R B (2005). Modern fine-grained sedimentation-spatial variabilityand environmental controls on an inner pericontinental shelf, HongKong. Mar Geol, 214: 1–26.
doi:10.1016/j.margeo.2004.11.004
|
| 9 |
Owen R B, Lee R (2004). Humanimpacts on organic matter sedimentation in a proximal shelf setting,Hong Kong. Cont Shelf Res, 24: 583–602.
doi:10.1016/j.csr.2003.11.004
|
| 10 |
Owen R B, Neller R J, Shaw R, et al. (1995). Sedimentology, geochemistryand micropalaeontology of Borehole A5/2, West Lamma Channel. Hong Kong Geologist, 1: 13–25
|
| 11 |
Owen R B, Neller R J, Shaw R, et al. (1998). Late Quaternary environmentalchanges in Hong Kong. Palaeogeography,Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 138: 151–173.
doi:10.1016/S0031-0182(97)00129-6
|
| 12 |
Sampei Y, Matsumoto E (2001). C/N ratiosin a sediment core from Nakaumi Lagoon, southwest Japan – usefulnessas an organic source indicator. GeochemJ, 35: 189–205
|
| 13 |
Tang M, Yang S Y, Li B H, et al. (2006). Compositions of organiccarbon and nitrogen and carbon isotope of postglacial sediments inthe Yangtze River Delta and the paleoenvironmental implication. Mar Geol Quat Geol, 26(5): 1–10 (in Chinese)
|
| 14 |
Thornton S F, McManus J (1994). Applicationof organic carbon and nitrogen stable isotope and C/N ratios as sourcesindicators of organic matter provenances in estuarine systems: evidencefrom the Tay Esturary, Scotland. EstuarineCoastal and Shelf Sci, 38: 219–233.
doi:10.1006/ecss.1994.1015
|
| 15 |
Tovey N K, Yim W W-S (2002). Desiccationof Late Quaternary inner shelf sediments of Hong Kong: microfabricobservations. Quat Int, 92: 73–87.
doi:10.1016/S1040-6182(01)00116-1
|
| 16 |
Wang P X, Tian J, Cheng X R, et al. (2003). Carbon reservoir changespreceded major ice-sheet expansion at the mid-Brunhes event. Geology, 31: 239–242.
doi:10.1130/0091-7613(2003)031<0239:CRCPMI>2.0.CO;2
|
| 17 |
Wang P X (2004) . Cenozoic Deformation and the History ofSea-Land Interactions in Asia. In: GeophysicalMonograph Series 149 (Clift P eds.) “Continent-Ocean interactionswithin the East Asian marginal seas” . American Geophysical Union, 1–22
|
| 18 |
Watts J C D (1973). Further observations on the hydrology of Hong Kong Territorialwaters. Hong Kong Fisheries Bull, 3: 9–35
|
| 19 |
Yang S Y, Yim W W-S, Huang G Q (2008). Geochemical composition of innershelf Quaternary sediments in the northern South China Sea with implicationsfor provenance discrimination and paleoenvironmental reconstruction. Global and Planetary Change, 60 (3–4): 207–221.
doi:10.1016/j.gloplacha.2007.02.005
|
| 20 |
Yi S, Saito Y, Zhao Q H, et al. (2003). Vegetation and climate changesin the Changjiang (Yangtze River) Delta, China, during the past 13000 years inferred from pollen records. Quat Sci Rev, 22: 1501–1519.
doi:10.1016/S0277-3791(03)00080-5
|
| 21 |
Yim W W-S, Chan L S, Hsieh M, et al. (2002). Carbon flux during the lastinterglacial cycle in the inner continental shelf of the South ChinaSea off Hong Kong. Global and PlanetaryChange, 33: 29–45.
doi:10.1016/S0921-8181(02)00059-0
|
| 22 |
Yim W W-S, Fung K W (1981). Heavymetals in marine sediments of Hong Kong. Journal Hong Kong Institution of Engineers, 9/10: 33–39
|
| 23 |
Yim W W-S, Leung W C (1987). Sedimentologyand geochemistry of sea-floor sediments in Tolo Habour, Hong Kong– implications for urban development. Geol Soc Hong Kong Bull, 3: 493–510
|
| 24 |
Zong Y, Lloyd J D, Leng M J, et al. (2006). Reconstruction of the Holocenemonsoon history from the Pearl River Estuary, southern China, usingdiatoms and organic carbon isotope ratios. The Holocene, 16: 251–263.
doi:10.1191/0959683606hl911rp
|
|
Viewed |
|
|
|
Full text
|
|
|
|
|
Abstract
|
|
|
|
|
Cited |
|
|
|
|
| |
Shared |
|
|
|
|
| |
Discussed |
|
|
|
|
