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Biogenic Silica Composition and Storage in the Yellow River Delta Wetland with Implications for the Carbon Preservation

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Abstract

The composition and accumulation of BSi and its role in C sequestration in the YRDW were quantified based on field investigation combined with remote sensing observation in the Yellow River Delta Wetland (YRDW). Results show that the soil BSi pool in the YRDW mainly consists of phytoliths. The pools of BSi, TOC, and BSi-occluded C (OCBSi) for aboveground plants in the YRDW are 7.6 g m−2, 129 g m−2 and 0.13 g m−2, respectively. Surface soil (0–10 cm) stocks of BSi, TOC, and OCBSi are 1780 g m−2, 840 g m−2 and 40 g m−2. Our results showed that BSi preservation efficiencies of BSi (52%) and (OCBSi) (51%) in deep soil layers exceed those of TOC (35%) based on the vertical variation of BSi in the sediment. Approximately 333 t of C fixed by plants is occluded in the phytoliths as OCBSi in the YRDW. Almost half of this OCBSi is preserved in the sediment in stable form. The YRDW is therefore an important sink for BSi and BSi-occluded C.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Houjian Xu and Tao Sun for their assistances with sampling and lab analysis. This study was financially partly supported by the Basic Scientific Fund for National Public Research Institutes of China (2017Q10, 2017S03), the Speical Support for Post-doc Creative Funding in Shangdong Province (201703046) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Project No. 41706082, 41806097, 41776089 and 41930862).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Center for Marine Ecology, First Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources, No. 6, Xianxialing Road, Qingdao, 266061, China

    Jun Liu, Jianbu Wang, Menglu Li, Jiaye Zang & Xiangbin Ran

  2. Laboratory for Marine Geology, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Qingdao, 266237, China

    Jun Liu & Xiangbin Ran

  3. Institute of the Surface-Earth System Science Research, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China

    Zhaoliang Song

  4. Key Laboratory of Marine Chemistry Theory and Technology, Ministry of Education, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, 266100, People’s Republic of China

    Alexander F. Bouwman

  5. Department of Earth Sciences, Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, Princetonlaan 8a, 3584 CB, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Alexander F. Bouwman

  6. Department of Earth Sciences–Geochemistry, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80021, 3508 TA, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Alexander F. Bouwman

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

    Sen Liu

  8. Deep Sea Research Center, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, 266071, China

    Lei Cao

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  1. Jun Liu
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Liu, J., Song, Z., Wang, J. et al. Biogenic Silica Composition and Storage in the Yellow River Delta Wetland with Implications for the Carbon Preservation. Wetlands 40, 1085–1095 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-019-01233-z

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