Historical reconstruction of organic carbon inputs to the East China Sea inner shelf: Implications for anthropogenic activities and regional climate variability

Abstract

A gravity core collected from the East China Sea (ECS) inner shelf was analyzed for elemental and stable isotopic composition, lignin-phenols, and sedimentary pigments to investigate changes of organic carbon (OC) inputs during the past two centuries. In particular, we examined the linkages between terrestrial and marine OC inputs with climate variability and anthropogenic activities. The decrease of terrestrial OC contribution (from 41% to 28%) and increasing diagenetic indices of lignin-phenols (P/(S + V): from 0.12 to 0.22; 3,5-Bd/V: from 0.03 to 0.09) after the 1970s were possibly attributed to intensified deforestation, dam construction, and channel erosion. Lignin content (Λ8) ranged from 0.35 mg/100 mg OC to 6.92 mg/100 mg OC, with lower values corresponding to the worst flooding events in the Changjiang watershed and weaker East Asian Winter Monsoon (EAWM), while higher Λ8 was more correlated to the strengthening of EAWM. This indicates that terrestrial inputs to Zhe-Min Coast are different from those in Changjiang Estuary during flooding events and strongly linked with regional climate variability. The total contents of sedimentary chloropigments (i.e. pheophorbide-a, pheophytin-a, pyropheophytin-a, sterol chlorin esters, and carotenol chlorin esters) ranged from 663.4 to 74.9 nmol g−1 OC, and decreased exponentially downwards. Sedimentary chloropigments that were used to document historical change of phytoplankton biomass were decoupled with historical changes of Changjiang riverine nutrient inputs but corresponded well to the fluctuation of regional climate variability. Higher phytoplankton biomasses usually were observed during positive phases of Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) and/or warm El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events, and lower algal biomass usually corresponded to the negative phase of PDO and/or cold ENSO events.