Abstract
Diatom data of 192 surface sediment samples from the marginal seas in the western Pacific together with modern summer and winter sea surface temperature and salinity data were analyzed. The results of canonical correspondence analysis show that summer sea-surface salinity (SSS) is highly positively correlated with winter SSS and so is summer sea-surface temperature (SST) with winter SST. The correlations between SSSs and SSTs are less positively correlated, which may be due to interactions of regional current pattern and monsoon climate. The correlations between diatom species, sample sites and environmental variables concur with known diatom ecology and regional oceanographic characters. The results of forward selection of the environmental variables and associated Monte Carlo permutation tests of the statistical significance of each variable suggest that summer SSS and winter SST are the main environmental factors affecting the diatom distribution in the area and therefore preserved diatom data from down core could be used for reconstructions of summer SSS and winter SST in the region.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Birks H J B. 1995. Quantitative Palaeoenvironmental Reconstructions. In: Maddy D, Brew J S eds, Statistical Modelling of Quaternary Science Data. Technical Guide 5, Quaternary Research Association, Cambridge, p. 161–254.
De Sève, M A. 1999. Transfer function between surface sediment diatom assemblages and sea-surface temperature and salinity of the Labrador Sea. Marine Micropaleontology, 36: 249–267.
Ding Y. 1994. Monsoons over China. Kluwer, Dordrecht.
Guo B, Huang Z, Li P et al. 2004. The Oceanography of the Chinese Seas and the Neighboring Seas. Ocean Press. (in Chinese)
Hasle G R. Syvertsen E E. 1997. Marine Diatoms. In: Tomas C R, ed., Identifying Marine Phytoplankton, Academic Press, p. 5–385.
Hendey N I. 1964. An Introductory Account of the Smaller Algae of British Coastal Waters. Fishery Inves tigations, Ser. IV Part V. Bacillariophyceae (Diatoms). H.M.S.O. London Ottokoelz Science Publishers, West Germany.
Hustedt F. 1959. Die Kieselalgen Deutschlands, Österreichs und der Schweiz, 2 Teil. Koeltz Scientific Books (English translation, 1985), Koeltz.
Jiang H. 1987. Some common fossil diatom species and their correlations to environments. Acta Botanica Sinica, 29(4): 440–448. (in Chinese)
Jiang H, Eiríksson J, Schulz M et al. 2005. Evidence for solar forcing of sea-surface temperature on the North Icelandic shelf during the late Holocene. Geology, 33: 73–76.
Jiang H, Zheng Y, Ran L et al. 2004. Diatoms from the surface sediments of the South China Sea and their relationships to modern hydrography. Marine Micropaleontology, 53: 279–292.
Jousé A P, Kozlova O G, Muhina V V. 1971. Distribution of Diatoms in the Surface Layer of Sediment from the Pacific Ocean. In: Funnell B M, Riedel W R eds, The Micropalaeontology of Oceans. Cambridge University Press, p. 263–269.
Koç Karpuz N, Schrader H. 1990. Surface sediment diatom distribution and Holocene paleotemperature variations in the Greenland, Iceland and Norwegian Sea. Paleoceanography, 5: 557–580.
Muhina V V. 1971. Problems of Diatom and Silicoflagellate Quaternary Stratigraphy in the Equatorial Pacific Ocean. In: Funnell B M, Riedel W R eds, The Micropalaeontology of Oceans. Cambridge University Press, p. 423–431.
Ohshima K I. 1994. The flow system in the Japan Sea caused by a sea level difference through shallow straits. Journal of Geophysical Research, 99: 9 925–9 940.
Round F E, Crawford R M, Mann D G. 1990. The Diatoms. Cambridge University Press.
Sancetta C. 1982. Distribution of diatom species in surface sediments of Bering and Okhotsk seas. Micropaleontology, 28: 221–257.
Stoermer E F, Smol J P. 1999. The Diatom: Applications for the Environmental and Earth Sciences. Cambridge University Press.
Tanimura Y. 1981. Late Quaternary Diatoms of the Sea of Japan. Tohoku University Science Report 2nd ser. (Geol.) 51.
ter Braak C J F. 1986. Canonical correspondence analysis: a new eigenvector technique for multivariate direct gradient analysis. Ecology, 67: 1 167–1 179.
ter Braak C J F, Smilauer P. 2002. CANOCO 4.5. Biometris, Wageningen University and Research Centre.
Xu X, Oda M. 1999. Surface-water evolution of the eastern East China Sea during the last 36,000 years. Marine Geology, 156: 285–304.
Wang K, Jiang H, Fen W. 1988. Diatoms from the surface sediments in the northern South China Sea and their correlations with sedimentary environment. Tropic Oceanology, 7(3): 19–25. (in Chinese)
Wang P. 1999. Response of western Pacific marginal seas to glacial cycles: paleoceaongraphic and sedimentological features. Marine Geology, 156: 5–39.
Wyrtki W. 1961. Physical Oceanography of the Southeast Asian Waters. Scientific Results of Marine Investigations of the South China Sea and the Gulf of Thailand 1959–1961. NAGA Rep. 2, Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Supported by the support by the NSFC (No. 40676027), the Fund for Creative Research Groups of China (No. 40721004) and the 111 Project (No. B08022)
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Huang, Y., Jiang, H., Svante, B. et al. Surface sediment diatoms from the western Pacific marginal seas and their correlation to environmental variables. Chin. J. Ocean. Limnol. 27, 674–682 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00343-009-9211-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00343-009-9211-2