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Distribution patterns of 210Po, 210Pb and the particle export in the Taiwan Strait during the winter

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Abstract

210Po and 210Pb are increasingly used to constrain particle dynamics in the open oceans, however they are less used in coastal waters. Here, distributions and partitions of 210Po and 210Pb were examined in the Taiwan Strait, as well as their application to quantify particle sinking. Activity concentrations of dissolved 210Po and 210Pb (<0.6 μm) ranged from 1.21 to 7.63 dpm/(100 L) and from 1.07 to 6.33 dpm/(100 L), respectively. Activity concentrations of particulate 210Po and 210Pb varied from 1.96 to 36.74 dpm/(100 L) and from 3.11 to 38.06 dpm/(100 L). Overall, particulate 210Po and 210Pb accounted for the majority of the bulk 210Po and 210Pb. 210Po either in dissolved or particulate phases showed similar spatial patterns to 210Pb, indicating similar mechanisms for controlling the distributions of 210Po and 210Pb in the Taiwan Strait. The different fractionation coefficients indicated that particles in the Zhemin Coastal Current (ZCC) inclined to absorb 210Po prior to 210Pb while they showed an opposite effect in the Taiwan Warm Current (TWC). Based on the disequilibria between 210Po and 210Pb, the sinking fluxes of total particulate matter (TPM) were estimated to range from–0.22 to 3.84 g/(m2·d), showing an overall comparable spatial distribution to previous reported sediment accumulation rates. However, our sinking fluxes were lower than the sedimentation rates, indicating a sediment resuspension in winter and horizontal transport of particulate matter from the Taiwan Strait to the East China Sea.

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Acknowledgments

We appreciate the insightful suggestions from two anonymous reviewers and Zongqiang Zhu in Guilin University of Technology. We also thank the laboratory staff and the crew of R/V Yanping II for their help during sampling and analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Guangxi Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution Control Theory and Technology, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin, 541004, China

    Lihao Zhang, Yinian Zhu & Yanhong Li

  2. State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science/College of Ocean and Earth Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361102, China

    Lihao Zhang, Weifeng Yang, Min Chen, Zhou Wang, Ziming Fang & Yusheng Qiu

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  1. Lihao Zhang
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  2. Weifeng Yang
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  3. Min Chen
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  4. Yinian Zhu
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  5. Zhou Wang
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  6. Ziming Fang
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  7. Yusheng Qiu
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  8. Yanhong Li
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Correspondence to Weifeng Yang or Yinian Zhu.

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Foundation item: The National Natural Science Foundation of China under contract Nos 41076043 and 51608142; the Guangxi Young and Middle-aged Teachers’ Basic Ability Upgrading Project under contract No. 2019KY0298; the Guangxi Science and Technology Planning Project under contract No. GuiKe-AD18126018.

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Zhang, L., Yang, W., Chen, M. et al. Distribution patterns of 210Po, 210Pb and the particle export in the Taiwan Strait during the winter. Acta Oceanol. Sin. 39, 12–21 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13131-020-1550-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13131-020-1550-z

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