TRANSFERABLE PHOSPHORUS IN SEDIMENTS OF THE HUANGHE RIVER ESTUARY ＇S ADJACENT WATERS

Based on a new idea for research on cycling of marine biogenic elements, this study showed that only the leachable form phosphorus in natural grain sizes manne sediments constitutes the transferable phosphorous in the sediments. The transferable phosphorus content in the natural grain sizes surface sediments in the Huanghe River estuary adjacent waters ranges from 58.5-69.8 μg/g, accounting for only 9.1%-11.0% of the total phosphorus content, whereas the leachable form (“transferable” )phosphorus content in the sediment after it was totally ground into powder was found to be 454.8-529.2μg/g, accounting for 73.4%-89.1% of the total phosphorus. Analysis of the correlation between thebill,ass of benthos and the leachable form (“transferable” ) phosphorus showed that most of the leachableform (“transferable”) phosphorus in the totally ground sediment did not participate in the marine biogeo chemical cycling. Furthermore, a synchronous survey on benthos showed that the biornass of meio-and maero-benthos exhibited good positive correlation with the leachable form of phosphorus in the naturalgrain sizes sediment, but peorer correlation with the leachable form (“transferable”) phosphorus in the totally ground sediment, indicating that transferable phosphorus in marine sediment is the leachable form of phosphorus in the natural grain sizes sediments, and is not the previously known leachable form(“transferable”) phosphorus obtained from the totally ground sediment.

Transferable phosphorus in sediments of the Huanghe River estuary's adjacent waters

Based on a new idea for research on cycling of marine biogenic elements, this study showed that only the leachable form phosphorus in natural grain sizes marine sediments constitutes the transferable phosphorous in the sediments. The transferable phosphorus content in the natural grain sizes surface sediments in the Huanghe River estuary adjacent waters ranges from 58.5–69.8 μg/g, accounting for only 9.1%–11.0% of the total phosphorus content, whereas the leachable form (“transferable”) phosphorus content in the sediment after it was totally ground into powder was found to be 454.8–529.2 μg/g, accounting for 73.4%–89.1% of the total phosphorus. Analysis of the correlation between the biomass of benthos and the leachable form (“transferable”) phosphorus showed that most of the leachable form (“transferable”) phosphorus in the totally ground sediment did not participate in the marine biogeochemical cycling. Furthermore, a synchronous survey on benthos showed that the biomass of meio-and macro-benthos exhibited good positive correlation with the leachable form of phosphorus in the natural grain sizes sediment, but poorer correlation with the leachable form (“transferable”) phosphorus in the totally ground sediment, indicating that transferable phosphorus in marine sediment is the leachable form of phosphorus in the natural grain sizes sediments, and is not the previously known leachable form (“transferable”) phosphorus obtained from the totally ground sediment. Contribution No. 4143 from the Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Project 49776300 supported by NSFC, and 49925614 by the NSFC for Outstanding Young Scientists.