Organic Carbon and Particle-Size Distribution in the Littoral Bottom Sediments of the Laspi Bay (the Black Sea)

Abstract

Purpose. The work is aimed at estimating the organic carbon abundance in the bottom sediments of the littoral zone in connection with the state of macrozoobenthos in the Sevastopol region coastal waters with different levels of the anthropogenic pressure (by the example of the Laspi Bay). Methods and Results. The samples were taken in the dynamically active coastal-shelf zone (up to the depths ~ 20 m) of the Laspi Bay in September, 2017. Two samples were taken during the 103rd cruise of R/V "Professor Vodyanitsky" (September, 2018). The geochemical composition of bottom sediments was investigated. The bottom sediments of natural humidity were analyzed in accordance with the requirements of the regulatory documents. In the sediments containing the aleurite fraction in the central part of the Laspi Bay (station 4), the organic carbon content (Сorg) increased its natural course up to 0.46 %, but did not exceed its maximum values characteristic of the similar lithological sediments in the shallow-water part of the Crimea Southern Coast (1.14 %). In the deep part of the bay occupied with the aleurite-pelitic silt, the Сorg content exceeded 2 %. Absence of the Сorg accumulation within the depths under study is conditioned primarily by the grain-size composition of the bottom sediments, the hydrodynamic factor and the morphometric features of this coastal site. Presence of a small portion of the aleurite-pelitic fraction in the bottom sediments also does not promote the organic carbon accumulation. Thus, spatial distribution of the carbon organic and inorganic forms is conditioned by the features of the matters’ lateral migration, which, in its turn, is governed by dependence of the bottom sediments’ chemical and dispersion structure upon the environmental morphodynamic conditions. Conclusions. The littoral sediments were found to be characterized by a low organic content (Сorg = 0.16 %) not exceeding the geochemical background values of the surface bottom sediments in the Black Sea shelf zones. At present, the organic matter accumulation is determined by the features of the environmental morphodynamic conditions (transition of fine particles to the deep zones) and by the dispersed composition of the bottom sediments.