Sedimentary record of black carbon in the Pearl River estuary and adjacent northern South China Sea |
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Authors: | Xuesong Sun Pingan Peng Jianzhong Song Gan Zhang Jianfang Hu |
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Institution: | aState Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wushan, Guangzhou 510640, China;bGraduate School of Chinese Academy of Science, Shijingshan, Beijing 100039, China |
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Abstract: | The concentrations of black carbon (BC) and δ13CBC were determined in sediments of three dated cores from the Pearl River estuary (core PR-3) and adjacent northern South China Sea (cores SS-30, E2). For comparison, the total organic C (TOC) contents and δ13CTOC in the sediments were also measured. Relatively higher concentrations and fluxes of BC were found in sedimentary core PR-3, taken in the Pearl River estuary. The BC concentration profiles or fluxes correlated well with fossil-fuel usage in the Pearl River Delta. Maximum BC fluxes occurred in the late 1970s to early 1980s as recorded in core PR-3, and in the 1950s (core SS-30), reflecting the maximum BC emission in the Pearl River Delta and Hong Kong region, respectively. After the 1980s, a rapid decrease of BC fluxes and a light δ13CBC excursion were presumably due to improvements in combustion and pollution-control technologies and a shift of energy structure from biomass and coal to a mixture of coal, gas, oil and biomass. The fossil BC that contributed to total BC in core PR-3 increased from 20–30% to 70–80% during the last five decades. The study also shows that BC correlates well with terrestrial organic matter and that the ratio of BC to TOC is a good pollution indicator in relation to anthropogenic activities. |
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