Sediment oxygen consumption and benthic organic carbon mineralization on the continental shelves of the East China Sea and the Yellow Sea

Sediment oxygen consumption (SOC) rates on the shelves of the East China Sea (ECS) and the Yellow Sea (YS) were measured during five field studies in the period April 2010 to May 2011, using the batch intact core incubation technique. The measured SOC rates ranged from 1.73 to 17.56 mmol O2 m−2 d−1, which are comparable to values reported for other typical continental shelves worldwide. For the shelves of both the ECS and the YS there was a remarkable spatial and temporal variation in SOC rates. SOC was used as a proxy to assess the benthic organic carbon mineralization in the ECS and the YS, and to prepare simple organic carbon budget. For the YS it was found that on average approximately 90% of the organic carbon derived from primary productivity was decomposed in the water column and 8% was decomposed in the sediment, resulting in <4% being permanently buried in the YS sediment. In contrast, approximately 70% of the organic carbon derived from primary productivity was decomposed in the water column in the ECS and 17% was decomposed in the sediment, suggesting that the permanently buried percentage (14%, relative to the primary productivity) was higher in the ECS. The contrasting contributions of benthic mineralization to the organic carbon cycle in the ECS and the YS indicated that there is tight coupling between pelagic and benthic biogeochemical processes in the ECS, but in the YS, the regenerated production and external non-marine nutrients regulated pelagic primary production.