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Distribution and budget of dissolved and biogenic silica in the Bohai Sea and Yellow Sea

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Abstract

Silicon (Si) is essential for growth of diatoms and other siliceous organisms, and plays a key role in marine ecosystems. We established a Si budget for the Bohai Sea and Yellow Sea (BSYS) on the basis of dissolved silicate (DSi) and biogenic silica (BSi) concentration measurements in two major rivers and in the water column and sediment of BSYS, and additional data from literature. The results show that BSi accounts for about 25 % of total reactive Si (DSi + BSi) in the BSYS. The budget shows that the major Si source that supports primary production in the water column of BSYS is the benthic flux, accounting for 54 % of total Si input, followed by water exchange from the East China Sea, accounting for 26 %, direct riverine input (9 %), submarine groundwater discharge (7 %), surface runoff (3 %) and atmospheric deposition (<1 %). The dominant processes that remove dissolved Si (DSi) from the water column of BSYS are primary production and subsequent BSi sedimentation, and export to East China Sea, accounting for 80 and 20 % of the Si output, respectively. About 89 % of gross BSi production is recycled in the water column over the shelf of BSYS, and 11 % settles on the sea floor. The benthic flux to the water column of the BSYS is an important DSi source, but the budget indicates that overall there is a net burial of BSi amounting to 3.6 % of total BSi production.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported in part by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Project No. 41106072 and 41376093). We are grateful to Sun Tao, Che Hong, Zhang Lijun and Zheng Lili for their assistance in the field sampling. The comments and suggestions from four anonymous reviewers have led to important improvements of this paper. To obtain the cruises data used in this analysis please contact the corresponding author at rxb@fio.org.cn.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Marine Chemistry Theory and Technology, Ministry of Education, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, 266100, China

    Jun Liu, Zhigang Yu & Xiangbin Ran

  2. Research Center for Marine Ecology, First Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administration, Qingdao, 266061, China

    Jun Liu, Jiaye Zang, Sen Liu & Xiangbin Ran

  3. Department of Earth Sciences–Geochemistry, Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, 3508, TA, The Netherlands

    Lex Bouwman & Xiangbin Ran

  4. PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, Bilthoven, 3720 AH, The Netherlands

    Lex Bouwman

  5. Tianjin Marine Environmental Monitoring Central Station, State Oceanic Administration, Tianjin, 300450, China

    Sen Liu

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  1. Jun Liu
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Correspondence to Xiangbin Ran.

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Liu, J., Zang, J., Bouwman, L. et al. Distribution and budget of dissolved and biogenic silica in the Bohai Sea and Yellow Sea. Biogeochemistry 130, 85–101 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-016-0244-2

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