Abstract
The water exchange rate between the continental shelf water of the East China Sea and the Kuroshio Current waters is estimated to be about 22000+9000 km^3/yr or 0.7±0.3 Sverdrups which is about 25 times the value of the major river runoffs in the region. The implication is that the chemistry of the continental shelf water is mostly influenced by the Kuroshio water inputs. Inputs of dissolved particle-reactive trace elements into the continental shelf water from the major rivers and the upwelled subsurface Kuroshio water are efficiently sequestered by suspended particles and subsequently removed to the bottom sediments. The Okinawa Trough sediments are important sites for receiving the dispersed fine suspended particles and associated particle-reactive trace elements from the continental shelf.
Highlights
The water exchange rate between the continental shelf water of the East China Sea and the Kuroshio Current waters is estimated to be about 22000±9000 km3/yr or 0.7±0.3 Sverdrups which is about 25 times the value of the major river runoffs in the region
Two of the world's major rivers i.e. Yangtze (Changjiang) River and Yellow (Huanghe) River discharge into the East China Sea and the Pohai Gulf of the Yellow Sea respectively
The hydrographic transects across the continental shelf clearly show the intrusion of the Upwelled Subsurface Kuroshio (OSK) water across the shelf break onto the continental shelf and underneath the less saline continental shelf water (Chen and Bychkoz, 1992; Gong, 1992; Liu et al 1992)
Summary
Note: Gan et al (1983), Cauwet and Mackenzie (1991) for river water data, Li et al (1984) for river suspended particle and Zhao et al (1984).
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