The Characteristics of suspended particulate matter and surface sediment of C, N in the Northern East China Sea ill summer

Organic carbon and nitrogen contents in suspended particulate matter (SPM) and surface sediments in seawater were measured in the Northern East China Sea in summer. The distribution of particulate organic carbon(POC) and particulate organic nitrogen(PON) were in the ranges of 54~481㎍/l and 6~85㎍/l, respectively, with relatively high level of concentrations in the western and southern sides of the study area. Also, there has been a significantly positive correlation between POC and PON, gradually increasing toward the deeper range of depth. Average C:N ratios of POC and PON of SPM were 6 in study area. The ratios of POC to PON of SPM increased as the range of depth increased, indicating nitrogen decomposes more rapidly than carbon and is considered to be influenced by the input of detritus from surface sediments. The distribution of total organic matter(TOM), total organic carbon(TOC) and total organic nitrogen(TON) in surface sediments were in the ranges of 3.1~9.6%, 0.282~0.635% and 0.022~0.069%, respectively, with relatively low range in the western and northern sides of the study area. The ratio of TOC to TON of surface sediments were in the range of 9.8~17.4(average of 13), strongly indicating the active role of the input from the terrestrial organic pollutants.