The Contribution of Opal-Associated Phosphorus to Bioavailable Phosphorus in Surface and Core Sediments in the East China Sea The Contribution of Opal-Associated Phosphorus to Bioavailable Phosphorus in Surface and Core Sediments in the East China Sea

To improve the burial flux calculations of bioavailable phosphorus(P) and study opal-associated P(Opal-P) in the East China Sea(ECS), surface and core sediments were collected in the Changjiang Estuary(CE) and the south of the Cheju Island. In this study, sedimentary P was operationally divided into seven different forms using modified sedimentary extraction(SEDEX) technique: LSor-P(exchangeable or loosely sorbed P), Fe-P(easily reducible or reactive ferric Fe-bound P), CFA-P(authigenic carbonate fluorapatite and biogenic apatite and CaCO_3-bound P), Detr-P(detrital apatite), Org-P(organic P), Opal-P and Ref-P(refractory P). The data revealed that the concentrations of the seven different P forms rank as Detr-P > CFA-P > Org-P > Ref-P > Opal-P > Fe-P > LSor-P in surface sediments and CFA-P > Detr-P > Org-P > Ref-P > Fe-P > Opal-P > LSor-P in core sediments. The distributions of the total phosphorus(TP), TIP, CFA-P, Detr-P are similar and decrease from the CE to the south of the Cheju Island. Meanwhile, Org-P and Opal-P exhibit different distribution trends; this may be affected by the grain size and TOM. The concentrations of potentially bioavailable P are 9.6-13.0 μmol g~(-1) and 10.0-13.6 μmol g~(-1), representing 61%-70% and 41%-64% of the TP in surface and core sediments, respectively. The concentrations of Opal-P are 0.6-2.3 μmol g~(-1) and 0.6-1.4 μmol g~(-1) in surface and core sediments, accounting for 5.3%-19.8% and 4.2%-10.6% of bioavailable P, respectively. The total burial fluxes of Opal-P and bioavailable P are 1.4×10~9 mol yr~(-1) and 1.1×10~10 mol yr~(-1) in the ECS, respectively. Opal-P represents about 12.7% of potentially bioavailable P, which should be recognized when studying P cycling in marine ecosystems