Study On The Metal Elements In Suspended Particulate Matters In The Yellow Sea And The East China Sea

The Yellow Sea (SYS) and the East China Sea (ECS) are typical marginal seas of high turbidity, which is influenced by the natural and human activities from Asian continent. With a large number of terrestrial input and the complex hydrodynamical processes, they are very significant to the research of the global material cycle. Suspended particulate matter (SPM) plays a very important role by the process of adsorption-desorption, flocculation-deflocculation, sedimentation and burial. By analyzing the chemical composition of metal elements in the SPM, people can understand the material "source - sink" effect and some information about influencing factors.In order to study the distribution of particulate elements, Al, Ca, Fe, Mg, Mn, P, Ti, Ba, Co, Cr, Cu, Ni, Sr, V, Zn and Pb in the SPM of the SYS and ECS in November 2007 were analyzed. Enrichment factors for selected particulate metals were caculated to discuss their source of metals in SPM and their influence factors. Conclusions are summarized as follows:The content of SPM in the surface seawater in the 03 transect (35°N) in SYS in November 2007 ranged from 0.27 to 2.02 mg/L, in which the highest value was in the east most station of the SYS and the lowest value was in the middle area of the SYS. The content of SPM in the bottom seawater in November 2007 ranged from 1.32 to 5.54 mg/L, and showed an opposite trend with the SPM in the surface seawater. Metal elements in the SPM in SYS had many sources. Variation in the particulate metals with the SPM contents in the seawater and clustering analysis indicated that particulate Al and Ti can be used as terrigenous elements indicators. Al, Ti, Ca, Fe, Mg, Sc, Co, Ni and V mostly came from terrigenous particles, while P, Cu, and Zn mainly originated from biogenic particles. Ba and Sr might be influenced both by terrigenous input and by biological activities. Pb was polluted in the middle area and east of SYS. Based on the results of enrichment factor (EF) calculation, most elements with mean EF values less than 3 were categorized into the unpolluted group, and elements Cr, Cu, Zn and Pb with their EF values more higher indicated their enrichment in the SPM were categorized into the polluted group.The content of SPM in the surface seawater in ECS in November 2007 ranged from 0.18 to 63.6 mg/L, in which the highest value was along the coast of Fujian and Zhejiang provinces, and the lowest value was in the outer of the ECS continental shelf. The content of SPM in the bottom seawater in November 2007 ranged from 0.2 to 58.2 mg/L, and showed a similar trend with the SPM in the surface seawater. Variation of the particulate metals with the SPM contents in the seawater indicated that Ti can be used as terrigenous elements indicator, Al, Fe, Mn, Mg, V, Co, Ba, Cr and Ni mostly came from terrigenous particles. P, Cu and Sr mainly originated from biogenic particles. Particulate Ca in the suface seawater in the stations offshore was more or less from biogenic particles. Pb and Zn were polluted in some station. Based on the results of enrichment factor (EF) calculation, most of the elements with mean value less than 3 were categorized into the unpolluted group, and elements Zn and Pb with highest EF values were categorized into the polluted group.