Rare earth element fingerprints in Korean coastal bay sediments: Association with provenance discrimination

Rare earth elements (REEs: La-Lu) in surface sediments collected from the mouth and middle tidal flats of Gomso Bay, South Korea, in August 2011 and May 2012 were analyzed to investigate the fine-grained sediment provenance. The upper continental crust (UCC)-normalized light REEs (LREEs: La to Nd) were more enriched than the middle REEs (MREEs: Sm to Dy) and heavy REEs (HREEs: Ho to Lu), resulting in large (La/Yb)_UCC (1.9 ± 0.4) to (Gd/Yb)_UCC (1.4 ± 0.2) ratios. The monthly (La/Yb)_UCC values differed between the mouth and middle tidal flats due to deposition of fine-grained sediments that originated from distant rivers (the Geum and Yeongsan) and the Jujin Stream, located on the southern shore of the inner bay. We observed relative reductions in the (La/Yb)_UCC value and REE content in the sediments from the mouth of the bay compared with those from Jujin Stream sediments. Confined to the middle tidal flat around the KH Line of Jujin Stream, the sediments, most enriched in LREEs but depleted in Eu, were distributed in August as strong Jujin Stream runs. Here, we suggest that an increase in LREE/HREE and decrease in MREE/LREE ratios can be used as a proxy to identify the Jujin Stream provenance in mixed riverine sediments and to trace Jujin Stream sediments within the Gomso Bay tidal flat, especially in the summer rainy season.     

Multi-proxy Stratigraphy and Paleoceanographic Variations in Sediment from the Korea Plateau,East Sea (Japan Sea), Over the Last 500 kyr

Ocean Science Journal - High-resolution geochemical measurements were performed on core E09-08, which was taken from the top flat area of the Korea Plateau in the East Sea (Japan Sea). Based on...     

Trace metals (Co,Ni, Cu,Cd, and Pb) in the southern East/Japan Sea

Total dissolvable metals (Co, Ni, Cu, Cd, and Pb) in both surface waters and the water columns were acquired in the southern East/Japan Sea during a cruise around the Ulleung Basin in June 2001 to understand the spatial distributions of the metals. Concentrations in offshore surface waters were found to be Co 60 ± 12 pM, Ni 2.16 ± 0.25 nM, Cu 1.85 ± 0.55 nM, Cd 0.134 ± 0.018 nM, and Pb 155 ± 40 pM. Spatial distributions in surface waters showed that metal levels were generally enhanced at coastal sites in both Korea and Japan, where the metal distributions indicated complex patterns due to inputs, biogeochemical processes, and physical factors including upwelling. The Co distributions in the water columns seemed to be influenced predominantly by surface and bottom inputs, scavenged rather than regenerated at depth. For Cd, there was generally good agreement between the Cd and PO₄ depth distributions, in agreement with the literature. The Cd/PO₄ ratio from the water columns was found to be 0.133–0.203, lower than that in other marginal seas (e.g. the East/South China Seas and the Philippine Sea) of the western Pacific Ocean; this might be a result of the fast ventilation rate in this sea. The vertical Pb profile showed typical scavenged-type behavior with a surface maximum and deep minimum. From a comparison of inputs from the atmosphere and the Tsushima Warm Current, atmospheric deposition is substantial enough that it cannot be ignored, and its role in metal cycling is more significant in the offshore zone.