Lead in the southern East China Sea

• Published in: Marine environmental research Vol. 49; no. 4; pp. 329 - 342
• Main Authors: Lin, Fei-Jan, Hsu, Shih-Chieh, Jeng, Woei-Lih
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01.05.2000; Elsevier
• Subjects: Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Applied ecology; Biogeochemical cycle; Biological and medical sciences; Dissolved lead; Earth, ocean, space; East China Sea; Ecotoxicology, biological effects of pollution; Exact sciences and technology; External geophysics; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Lead - analysis; Marine; Marine and brackish environment; Oceans and Seas; Particulate lead; Physical and chemical properties of sea water; Physics of the oceans; Residence time; Scavenging; Seasons; Water Pollutants, Chemical - analysis; East China Sea; INW, Donghai Sea; ISEW, Donghai Sea; China, People's Rep; IW, Donghai Sea; Dissolved lead; Particulate lead; Biogeochemical cycle; Residence time; East China Sea; Scavenging; Marine environment; Spatial distribution; Circulating current; Lead; Aerosol deposition; Chemical concentration
• ISSN: 0141-1136; 1879-0291
• DOI: 10.1016/S0141-1136(99)00076-8

At present, in most oceans the lead (Pb) biogeochemical cycling has been disturbed by anthropogenic Pb through atmospheric input. The Pb concentrations in the upper water positively correlate with atmospheric input fluxes of Pb. The North Pacific is affected greatly by atmospheric substances via long-range transport from eastern Asia, especially from Mainland China. Mainland China may export considerable amounts of pollutants into the seas via rivers and the atmosphere owing to its recent fast growth in industry and economy. The East China Sea lies in an important geographical position—a transit between Mainland China and the western North Pacific. However, no data are available for seawater concentrations of Pb, a representative element with anthropogenic origin. In this work seawater samples from both 5 and 30–50 m water layers of 15 stations occupied over a cyclonic eddy in the southern East China Sea were analyzed for particulate Pb (PPb) and dissolved Pb (DPb). The Mean concentration of DPb (∼128 ng/l) in the southern East China Sea upper waters (⩽50 m) is approximately several times higher than those in the Pacific; the high DPb concentrations in the southern East China Sea waters correspond to much higher atmospheric supplies of Pb to the East China Sea. Thus, this study partly fills the ‘data gap’ of the marginal seas. Also, it indicates that the East China Sea may be considerably contaminated by deposited polluted aerosols. Spatial distributions of DPb in the surface water show a tendency of increasing concentrations with distance offshore, that depends on the magnitudes of atmospheric Pb inputs and on particle scavenging processes. In contrast to DPb, spatial distributions of PPb basically display an ‘Ω’-like picture and a tendency of decreasing concentrations with distance offshore. These are related to riverine and scavenging sources and to the drive by the eddy. Additionally, the residence times of DPb in the surface water were estimated to be about 2 years, agreeing well with the reported data.