Journal of Tropical Oceanography ›› 2010, Vol. 29 ›› Issue (1): 116-125.doi: 10.11978/j.issn.1009-5470.2010.01.116cstr: 32234.14.j.issn.1009-5470.2010.01.116

• Marine geology • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Geochemistry element contents and distributions in the surface sediments of the Pearl River Estuary

LIU Ji, OUYANG Xiu-zhen, ZHOU Ying, LI Tuan-jie   

  1. South China Sea Marine Engineering Prospecting Center, State Oceanic Administration, Guangzhou, 510300
  • Received:2009-04-16 Revised:2009-08-18 Online:2010-01-15 Published:2001-01-08

Abstract:

The analysis results of constant elements and trace elements in the surface sediments indicate that ome terrigenous materials rich in Si, Al, K, Mg, Fe, Ti are the main components of the sediments in the Pearl River Estuary. The average levels of the main elements of oxides are SiO2 61.16%, Al2O3 14.74%, Fe2O3 5.72%, TiO2 0.88%, MgO 1.84%, K2O 2.63%, CaO 2.70%, and CaCO3 4.79%. Element content and particle size are closely related, with the main elements of Al2O3, MgO, Fe2O3, TiO2, as well as trace elements Cu, Pb, Zn, Cr, V, Co, Ni, Ba, in the northwestern coastal area and central Lingdingyang fine-grained sediment areas, of SiO2, CaO, Zr, Sr in the southwestern and southeastern district coarse sediment enrichment. The main factors that control the geochemical characteristics of sediments in this area are the source material, sedimentary environment, hydrodynamic conditions, sediment particle size, mineral composition and geochemical nature of the elements themselves.

Key words: Pearl River Estuary, surface sediment, element geochemistry, terrigenous clastic, grain size