Quantitative relationship between surface sedimentary diatoms and water depth in North-Central Bohai Bay, China

Abstract

To study the quantitative relationship between surface sedimentary diatoms and water depth, 67 surface samples were collected for diatom analysis on eight profiles with water depth variation from the muddy intertidal zone to the shallow sea area in North-Central Bohai Bay, China. The results showed that the distribution of diatoms changed significantly in response to the change in water depth. Furthermore, the quantitative relationship between the distribution of dominant diatom species, their assemblages, and the water depth was established. The water depth optima for seven dominant species such as Cyclotella striata/stylorum, Paralia sulcata, and Coscinodiscus perforatus and the water depth indication range of seven diatom assemblages were obtained in the study area above the water depth (elevation) of −10 m. The quantitative relationship between surface sedimentary diatoms and water depth provides a proxy index for diatom-paleo-water depth reconstruction in the strata in Bohai Bay, China.

Keywords

Diatom / Surficial sediments / Water depth (elevation) / Quantitative relationship / Sea level change / Paleo-environment change / Marine geological survey engineering / North-central Bohai Bay / China

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Zhi-wen Shang and Pei-xin Shi conceived the presented idea and prepared the manuscript. Zhi-wen Shang drew all the figures. Jian-fen Li and Hong Wang supervised the findings of this work. All authors discussed the results and contributed to the final manuscript.

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Acknowledgment

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China Youth Fund (41806109) and the project of the China Geological Survey (DD20189506). The authors thank Fu Wang, Li-zhu Tian, and Yan-dong Pei for taking part in the sampling.

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