Abstract
This study reconstructed environmental changes to the seafloor associated with reclamation in Mishou Bay, Bungo Channel, Japan, based on measurements of sediment grain size, organic matter and sulfur contents of surface sediments and data from sediment cores. Grain size within sediment cores from the middle of Mishou Bay decreased from the beginning of the 1800s to the 1900s. In contrast, a grain size profile from the river mouth shows a gradual increase in grain size up through the sediment core. These changes in grain size indicate a decrease in tidal current velocity within the middle of the bay and that the delta system is gradually prograding from the river mouth. Records of organic matter composition and sulfur contents indicate that the effect of the river on seafloor sedimentation became stronger during the nineteenth century. These changes are related to reclamation during the late 1700s and 1800s. The decrease in sea area resulting from reclamation probably led to a decrease in tidal prism and current velocity. It is likely that the increasing effect of river water on sedimentation is associated with reclamation-related progradation of the river delta system.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Appleby PG, Oldfield F (1978) The calculation of lead-210 dates assuming a constant rate of supply of unsupported 210Pb to the sediment. Catena 5:1–8
Berner RA (1983) Sedimentary pyrite formation: an update. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 48:606–615
Berner RA, Riswell R (1983) Burial of organic carbon and pyrite sulfur in sediments over Phanerozoic time: a new theory. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 47:855–862
Biggs RB, Sharp JH, Church TM, Tramontano JM (1983) Optical properties, suspended sediments, and chemistry associated with the turbidity maxima of the Delaware Estuary. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 40:172–179
Bordovskiy OK (1965a) Source of organic matter in marine basins. Mar Geol 3:5–31
Bordovskiy OK (1965b) Accumulation of organic matter in bottom sediments. Mar Geol 3:33–82
Chaumillon E, Tessier B, Weber N, Tesson M, Bertin X (2004) Buried sandbodies within present-day estuaries (Atlantic coast of France) revealed by very high resolution seismic surveys. Mar Geol 211:189–214
Ertel JR, Hedges JI (1984) The ligmim component of humic substance: distribution among soil and sedimentary humic, fulvic, and base-insoluble fractions. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 48:2065–2074
Ertel JR, Hedges JI, Devol AH, Richhey JE (1986) Dissolved humic substances of the Amazon River system. Limnol Oceanogr 31:739–754
Garcette-Lepecq A, Derenne S, Largeau C, Bouloubassi I, Saliot A (2000) Origin and formation pathway of kerogen-like organic matter in recent sediments off the Danube delta (northwestern Black Sea). Org Geochem 31:1663–1683
Glenn C, Arthur MA (1985) Sedimentary and geochemical indicators of productivity and oxygen contents in modern and ancient basins: the Holocene Black Sea as the “type” anoxic basin. Chem Geol 48:325–354
Hedges JI, Clark WA, Quay PD, Ricihey JE, Devol AH, Santos UdM (1986) Compositions and fluxes of particulate organic material in the Amazon River. Limnol Oceanogr 31:17–738
Hunt JM (1995) Petroleum geochemistry and geology. W.H. Freeman, New York, 743 pp
Koide M, Soutar A, Goldberg ED (1972) Marine geochronology with 210Pb. Earth Planet Sci Lett 14:442–446
Koide M, Bruland KW, Goldberg ED (1973) Th-228/Th-232 and Pb-210 geochronologies in marine and lake sediments. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 37:1171–1187
Krishnaswamy S, Lal D, Martin JM, Meybeck M (1971) Geochronology of lake sediments. Earth Planet Sci Lett 11:407–414
Mayer LM (1994a) Surface area control of organic carbon accumulation in continental shelf sediments. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 58:1271–1284
Mayer LM (1994b) Relationships between mineral surfaces and organic carbon concentrations in soils and sediments. Chem Geol 114:347–363
Meyers PA (1997) Organic geochemical proxies of paleoceanographic, paleolimnologic, and paleoclimatic processes. Org Geochem 27:213–250
Miura M, Okamoto Y (2004) A chronicle of civil engineering in Japan (in Japanese). Tokyodo, Tokyo, pp 503
Müller A (2002) Organic carbon burial rates, and carbon and sulfur relationships in coastal sediments of the southern Baltic Sea. Appl Geochem 17:337–352
Omura A, Hoyanagi K (2004) Relationships between composition of organic matter, depositional environments, and sea-level changes in backarc basins, Central Japan. J Sediment Res 74:620–630
Owen RB, Lee R (2004) Human impacts on organic matter sedimentation in a proximal shelf setting, Hong Kong. Cont Shelf Res 24:583–602
Pendon JG, Morales JA, Borrego J, Jimenez I, Lopez M (1998) Evolution of estuarine facies in tidal channel environment, SW Spain: evidence for a change from tide- to wave-domination. Mar Geol 147:43–62
Prahal FG, Bennett JT, Carpenter R (1980) The early diagenesis of aliphatic hydrocarbons and organic matter in sedimentary particulates from Dabob Bay, Washington. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 44:1967–1976
Saito Y, Kayane H (1991) Coastal evolution and changes in relation to eustatic sea-level changes, tectonic and human activity, Futtsu cuspate foreland of Tokyo Bay, central Japan (in Japanese with English abstract). J Sediment Soc Jpn 34:135–138
Sampei Y, Matsumoto E (2001) C/N ratios in a sediment core from Nakaumi Lagoon, southwest Japan—usefulness as an organic source indicator. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 35:189–205
Sampei Y, Matsumoto E, Kamei T, Tokuoka T (1997) Sulfur and organic carbon relationship in sediments from coastal brackish lakes in the Shimane peninsula district, southwest Japan. Geochim J 31:245–262
Sawada K, Akiyama K (1994) Carbon isotope composition of macerals separated from various kerogen by density separation method (in Japanese with English abstract). J Jpn Assoc Pet Technol 59:244–255
Sohlenius G, Sternbeck J, Andrén E, Westman P (1996) Holocene history of the Baltic Sea as recorded in a sediment core from the Gotland Deep. Mar Geol 134:183–201
Terashima S, Yonetani H, Matsumoto E, Inouchi Y (1983) Sulfur and carbon contents in recent sediments and their relation to sedimentary environments. Bull Geol Surv Jpn 34:361–382
Tönis IE, Stam JMT, van de Graaf J (2002) Morphological changes of the Haringvliet estuary after closure in 1970. Coast Eng 44:191–203
Van der Wal D, Pye K, Neal A (2002) Long-term morphological change in the Ribble estuary, Northwest England. Mar Geol 189:249–266
Volkman JK, Rohjans D, Rullkotter J, Scholz-Bottcher BM, Liebezeit G (2000) Source and diagenesis of organic matter in tidal flat sediments from the German Wadden Sea. Cont Shelf Res 20:1139–1158
Yanagi T, Ohnishi K (1999) Change of tide, tidal current, and sediment due to reclamation in Tokyo Bay (in Japanese with English abstract). Oceanogr Jpn 8:411–415
Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful to Mr. A. Kida and Dr. M. Kuwae (Ehime University) for help with sampling, Prof. H. Kunii, Prof. Y. Sampei (Shimane University), and Dr. M. Ikehara (Kochi University) for teaching and helping with CNS element analysis, and Dr. K. Hoyanagi (Shinshu University) for teaching us the method of fluorescent visual-kerogen analysis. Mr. S. Fujita (Ainan Town) provided us with historical archives and taught us the history of reclamation in Mishou Bay. This work was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (12308027) and performed under the cooperative research program of the Center for Advanced Marine Core Research (Accept No. 05A008).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Amano, A., Iwamoto, N., Inoue, T. et al. Seafloor environmental changes resulting from nineteenth century reclamation in Mishou Bay, Bungo Channel, Southwest Japan. Environ Geol 50, 989–999 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-006-0268-3
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-006-0268-3