Benthic nutrient fluxes in the intertidal flat within the Changjiang （Yangtze River） Estuary

In an annual cycle from March 2005 to February 2006, benthic nutrient fluxes were measured monthly in the Dongtan intertidal flat within the Changjiang （Yangtze River） Estuary. Except for NH4^＋, there always showed high fluxes from overlying water into sediment for other four nutrients. Sediments in the high and middle marshes, covered with halophyte and consisting of macrofauna, demonstrated more capabilities of assimilating nutrients from overlying water than the low marsh. Sampling seasons and nutrient concentrations in the overlying water could both exert significant effects on these fluxes. Additionally, according to the model provided by previous study, denitrification rates, that utilizing NO3- transported from overlying water （Dw） in Dongtan sediments, were estimated to be from -16 to 193 μmol·h^-1·m^-2 with an average value of 63 μmol·h^-1·m^-2 （n=18）. These estimated values are still underestimates of the in-situ rates owing to the lack of consideration of DN, i.e., denitrification supported by the local NO3^- production via nitrification.     

Changes in nutrient uptake of phytoplankton under the interaction between sunlight and phosphate in the Changjiang （Yangtze） River Estuary

We conducted ship-board incubation experiments to investigate changes in nutrient uptake of phytoplankton under different phosphate concentrations and irradiances in the Changjiang River Estuary and its adjacent waters in China. Under 100% natural irradiance the uptake rates of phosphate, silicate, and nitrate were accelerated at high phosphate levels （1.84 μM）, while under low irradiance （about 50% natural irradiance） their uptake rates were restrained at the high but stimulated greatly at the intermediate phosphate concentrations （1.26 μM）, as the growth of phytoplankton, changes in nitrite and ammonium uptake didn＇t follow an obvious pattern. Our results also showed that there were linear relationships between nitrate, silicate and phosphate uptake at different phosphate concentrations under low and high irradiances, and the growth period of phytoplankton was prolonged both at the high phosphate concentrations under high irradiance and at the intermediate concentrations under low irradiance, suggesting that the limitation of phytoplankton growth mainly reflected changes in its growth period, and because no such environment （low irradiance and low phosphate concentrations） actually existed in a high turbidity zone, phytoplankton blooms hardly occurred there. In the absence of irradiance, denitrification occurred readily and phytoplankton was kept decreasing, which resulted in phosphate regeneration.     

长江口水域多光谱遥感水深反演模型研究

利用Landsat-7 ETM 遥感影像反射率和实测水深值之间的相关性可以探测水深。该文介绍单波段、双波段比值和多波段3种线性回归模型以及动量BP人工神经网络水深反演模型。选择长江口北港河道上段作为研究区,利用上述模型,分两种情况进行水深反演:一是以河道全部历史样本建模;二是将河道按自然水深划分为浅水区和深水区分别建模。结果表明:神经网络模型预测精度高于线性回归模型;水深分区后线性回归和神经网络模型预测误差均有所减小。     

Ammonium regeneration in intertidal sediments of the Yangtze estuary during air-exposure

The influences of exposure to the atmosphere on ammonium cycle in the intertidal surface sediments were in situ studied with a geochemical approach at a typical station in the Yangtze Estuary during three tidal cycles in September 2003. During an about 8-h emersion period of each diurnal tide, six high-resolution vertical profiles of adsorbed and dissolved ammonium were measured. It was observed that both adsorbed and dissolved ammonium generally had an increasing trend in sediment cores during the exposure. The rate of ammonium regeneration in sediments was estimated using the accumulation amount of ammonium including adsorbed and soluble fractions during the daytime emersion. The calculation result showed that there was relatively high ammonification rate (˜500 nmol N cm⁻³ day⁻¹), which reflected that organic nitrogen in sediments was quickly decomposed with a residence time of ˜52.7 days. Due to the dramatic temperature difference observed in sediment profiles, free convection was considered an important mechanism of regulating the efflux of produced ammonium into overlying waters. The total estimated amount of regenerated ammonium was ˜1.35×10⁵ t N year⁻¹ in the intertidal flat of the Yangtze Estuary, which occupied 7.6% of the total inorganic nitrogen annually transported to the estuarine ecosystem.     

Iron colloids/organic matter associated transport of major and trace elements in small boreal rivers and their estuaries (NW Russia)

The chemical status of major and trace elements (TE) in various boreal small rivers and watershed has been investigated along a 1500-km transect of NW Russia. Samples were filtered in the field through a progressively decreasing pore size (5, 0.8 and 0.22 μm; 100, 10, and 1 kD) using a frontal filtration technique. All major and trace elements and organic carbon (OC) were measured in filtrates and ultrafiltrates. Most rivers exhibit high concentration of dissolved iron (0.2–4 mg/l), OC (10–30 mg/l) and significant amounts of trace elements usually considered as immobile in weathering processes (Ti, Zr, Th, Al, Ga, Y, REE, V, Pb). In (ultra)filtrates, Fe and OC are poorly correlated: iron concentration gradually decreases upon filtration from 5 μm to 1 kD whereas the major part of OC is concentrated in the <1–10 kD fraction. This reveals the presence of two pools of colloids composed of organic-rich and Fe-rich particles. According to their behavior during filtration and association with these two types of colloids, three groups of elements can be distinguished: (i) species that are not affected by ultrafiltration and are present in the form of true dissolved inorganic species (Ca, Mg, Li, Na, K, Sr, Ba, Rb, Cs, Si, B, As, Sb, Mo) or weak organic complexes (Ca, Mg, Sr, Ba), (ii) elements present in the fraction smaller than 1–10 kD prone to form inorganic or organic complexes (Mn, Co, Ni, Zn, Cu, Cd, and, for some rivers, Pb, Cr, Y, HREE, U), and (iii) elements strongly associated with colloidal iron in all ultrafiltrates (P, Al, Ga, REE, Pb, V, Cr, W, Ti, Ge, Zr, Th, U). Based on size fractionation results and taking into account the nominal pore size for membranes, an estimation of the effective surface area of Fe colloids was performed. Although the total amount of available surface sites on iron colloids (i.e., 1–10 μM) is enough to accommodate the nanomolar concentrations of dissolved trace elements, very poor correlation between TE and surface sites concentrations was observed in filtrates and ultrafiltrates. This strongly suggests a preferential transport of TE as coprecipitates with iron oxy(hydr)oxides. These colloids can be formed on redox boundaries by precipitation of Fe(III) from inflowing Fe(II)/TE-rich anoxic ground waters when they meet well-oxygenated surface waters. Dissolved organic matter stabilizes these colloids and prevents their aggregation and coagulation. Estuarine behavior of several trace elements was studied for two small iron- and organic-rich rivers. While Si, Sr, Ba, Rb, and Cs show a clear conservative behavior during mixing of freshwaters with the White sea, Al, Pb and REE are scavenged with iron during coagulation of Fe hydroxide colloids.     

Neuzeitlicher Schadstofftrend: Polycylische aromatische Kohlenwasserstoffe (PAK) in aquatischen und terrestrischen Sedimenten

A Recent Contamination Trend: Polycylic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) in Aquatic and Terrestrial Sediments Concentrations of polycylic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) measured in aquatic sediments of small, medium‐sized or very large inland lakes, of estuaries as well as in terrestrial sediments from Germany, the UK, Finland, and the USA were plotted in 10 trend curves over the period from 1800 to 1990. The segments of the bore cores were dated for their deposition age. For comparability of the results, the trend is preferentially shown by the guide parameter fluoranthene. Until the 19th century, a constant background value of C_Fluo = 10…50 μg/kg was observed in all regions. Then a steep increase in concentration followed, reaching in the aquatic sediments a maximum in the period 1940 to 1965, while the individual fluoranthene values ranged widely from 90 to 2400 μg/kg. In several regions, a more or less distinct decrease superseded this maximum, although this development did not appear in terrestrial sediments, in one estuary, and in remote forest lakes in Finland. The trend curves reflect the atmospheric deposition of PAHs in airborne dust and in some cases the import through runoff via rivers. Thus, the sediment profiles depict the development of air pollution by pyrogenic contaminants over more than a century. Sediment profiles from rivers can be used only with a high degree of reservation, because of the irregularity and low representativity of the sedimentation.     

南水北调对长江口粗颗粒悬沙来量的影响

探索了长江南水北调占总径流量10%情况下对长江粗颗粒悬沙(≥0.05mm)入海数量变化的可能影响。研究表明:南水北调对入海细颗粒泥沙的影响主要为南沙北调,但数量较小,在1%左右,而对粗颗粒悬沙的影响主要表现在入海流量减少导致的水体挟沙能力的降低。通过建立大通站典型枯水年(1978),平水年(1987)及洪水年(1983)月平均流量与月平均床沙质输沙率相关曲线,估算出各典型年在典型流量23000m3/s,30000m3/s与40000m3/s水平下调水流量3000m3/s时导致的入海床沙质输沙率的变化。结果表明,输沙率的相对变化在-39%至-24%之间,且在较高的流量水平下,输沙率相对变化较小,但绝对变化增大,经大通入海的床沙质数量每年约减少2350～4700万t.     

长江河口北槽河道悬沙絮团特性及其影响因素研究

利用多种先进室内外测量仪器进行河口现场观测和室内电镜扫描获得相关资料,对长江河口北槽河道细颗粒泥沙絮凝的水沙环境、絮团的微观形态结构、絮团的粒径组成及其主要影响因素进行了综合分析和讨论。结果表明,北槽河道具有非常适宜细颗粒泥沙絮凝的潮流、盐度、含沙量和悬沙颗粒粒径等基本环境条件。北槽河道悬沙絮团形态多样,主要包括松散状絮团、蜂窝状絮团和密实状絮团。絮团主要由细粉砂和黏土类细颗粒泥沙组成,表面多粗糙不平,结构或密或疏。絮团粒径变化与潮周期动力过程密切相关,具有周期性变化特征。涨、落憩时絮团粒径较大,涨、落急时絮团粒径较小。絮团粒径涨憩大于落憩,小潮大于大潮。垂向上,絮团粒径由表层至底层逐渐增大。周期性潮流流速对北槽河道悬沙絮团粒径变化起到了控制作用。北槽细颗粒泥沙絮凝作用,是导致疏浚航道发生回淤的主要原因之一。     

近60年来长江河口河势变化及其对水动力和盐水入侵的影响I.河势变化

河势是影响河口水动力和盐水入侵基本因子。本文利用20世纪50和70年代长江河口海图,数值化岸线和水深,结合2012年长江河口实测水深资料,分析长江河口自50年代以来的河势变化。长江河口为分汊河口,50年代仅为二级分汊,至70年代才形成三级分汊,四口入海的河势格局。70年代相比于50年代,北支淤浅严重,其上、中、下段容积变化分别为-64.13×106、-306.60×106和-639.27×106 m3,对应的变化率分别为-16.30%、-22.74%和-25.69%,均显著减小;南支的上、中、下段容积变化分别为-28.61×106、-35.69×106和126.43×106 m3,相应的变化率分别为-1.30%、-2.12%和4.36%;北港由于崇明浅滩和横沙浅滩的淤浅,下段容积明显减小,其上段和下段容积变化分别为109.21×106和-797.14×106 m3,对应的变化率分别为5.01%和-15.25%;南港上段由于河道淤浅容积减小,下段北由于铜沙浅滩被冲开形成北槽,导致水深变深、容积增加,其上段、下段北和下段南容积变化分别为-238.95×106、203.58×106和153.34×106 m3,对应的变化率分别为-8.96%、6.85%和3.26%。2012年相比于70年代,北支由于大量淤浅和围垦容积大幅减小,其上、中、下段容积变化分别为-199.06×106、-504.61×106和-654.12×106 m3,对应的变化率分别为-60.45%、-48.44%和-35.38%;南支的上、中、下段容积变化分别为92.34×106、193.01×106和-163.62×106 m3,相应的变化率分别为4.24%、11.73%和-5.40%;北港上段青草沙水库的围垦和下段横沙东滩的围垦造成面积和容积减小,其上段和下段容积变化分别为-154.64×106和-511.79×106 m3,对应的变化率分别为-6.75%和-11.55%;南港由于上段河道刷深而下段九段沙以及南汇边滩淤浅、围垦,导致其容积上段增加,下段减小,上段、下段北和下段南容积变化分别为136.39×106、-658.28×106和-1266.11×106 m3,对应的变化率分别为5.62%、-20.73%和-26.06%。     

海洋生态重要性区域的内涵与识别方法研究——以黄河口为例

海洋生态环境目前正在承受来自人类活动和气候变化的巨大压力;急需必要的管理工具或决策支持系统来应对这些压力所带来的生态环境问题。对海洋生境的分类识别是开展生物多样性保护的基础和前提;海洋生态重要区识别作为一种客观、科学和灵活的生境分类评估和选划方法;已被科学界和管理者广泛接受和认可。本文首先介绍了海洋生态重要区的概念内涵以及识别方法的研究进展;给出了海洋生态重要区的定义;之后以黄河口为例;初步建立了针对该区域的生态重要区识别标准和评价方法;对黄河口及邻近海区进行了生态重要性等级划分。本文是对生态重要区识别方法在我国近海的首次应用尝试;研究结果可为我国基于生态系统的海洋管理提供科学方法和工具;也可为其他区域的研究提供借鉴。