Biogenic silicate accumulation in sediments, Jiaozhou Bay

1 INTRODUCTION Silicate, or silicic acid (H4SiO4), is a very im- portant nutrient in the ocean. Unlike other major nu- trients such as phosphate and nitrate or ammonium, which are needed by almost all marine plankton, silicate is an essential chemical req…

Biogenic silicate accumulation in sediments, Jiazhou Bay

It has been widely recognized that low silicate content in seawater is a major limiting factor to phytoplankton primary production in Jiaozhou Bay. However the reason of Si-limitation remains poorly understood. In the present study we measured the biogenic silicate content and discussed the ac- cumulation of silicate in Jiaozhou Bay sediment. The results show that the biogenic silica content in the sediment of the Jiaozhou Bay is obviously much higher than those in the Yellow Sea and the Bohai Sea. The BSi:TN ratios and BSi:16P ratios in the sediment are > 1 and the OC:BSi ratio in sediment is lower than these of Redfield ratio (106:16), indicating that the decomposition rate of OC is much higher than that for BSi in similar conditions. Therefore, the majority of the biogenic silicate was buried and thus did not participate in silicate recycling. Silicate accumulation in sediment may explain why Si limits the phytoplankton growth in the Jiaozhou Bay. Comparing the flux of biogenic silicate from sediments with primary production rate, it can be concluded that only 15.5% of biogenic silicate is hydrolyzed during the journey from surface to bottom in seawater, thus approximate 84.5% of biogenic silicate could reach the bottom. The silicate releasing rate from the sediment to seawater is considerably lower than that of sedi- mentation of biogenic silicate, indicating silicate accumulation in sediment too. In a word, the silicate ac- cumulation in sediment is the key reason of silicate limiting to phytoplankton growth in Jiaozhou Bay.