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Concentrations and carbon isotopic (14C, 13C) compositions of black carbon (BC) were measured for three sediment cores collected from the Changjiang River estuary and the shelf of the East China Sea. BC concentrations ranged from 0.02 to 0.14 mg/g (dry weight), and accounted for 5% to 26% of the sedimentary total organic carbon (TOC) pool. Among the three sediment cores collected at each site, sediment from the Changjiang River estuary had relatively high BC contents compared with the sediments from the East China Sea shelf, suggesting that the Changjiang River discharge played an important role in the delivery of BC to the coastal region. Radiocarbon measurements indicate that the ages of BC are in the range of 6910 to 12250 years old B.P. (before present), that is in general, 3700 to 9000 years older than the 14C ages of TOC in the sediments. These variable radiocarbon ages suggest that the BC preserved in the sediments was derived from the products of both biomass fire and fossil fuel combustion, as well as from ancient rock weathering. Based on an isotopic mass balance model, we calculated that fossil fuel combustion contributed most (60%–80%) of the BC preserved in these sediments and varied with depth and locations. The deposition and burial of this “slow-cycling” BC in the sediments of the East China Sea shelf represent a significant pool of carbon sink and could greatly influence carbon cycling in the region.

From systemic research of microstructure, geochemistry, uranium-series and Be-10 isotope dating on a new-type deepwater ferromanganese crust from the East Philippine Sea, the paleoenvironment evolution of the target area since the terminal Late Miocene was recovered. The vertical section changes of microstructure and chemical composition are consistent in the studied crust, which indicate three major accretion periods and corresponding paleoenvironment evolution of the crust. The bottom crust zone was formed in the terminal Late Miocene (5.6 Ma) with loose microstructure, high detritus content and high growth rate. Reductions of mineral element content, accretion rate and positive Ce-anomaly degree at 4.6 Ma indicate temporal warming, which went against the crust accretion and finally formed an accretion gap in the terminal Middle Pliocene (2.8-2.7 Ma). The more active Antarctic bottom seawaters in the Late Pliocene (2.7 Ma) facilitated the fast transfer to the top pure crust zone. Hereafter, with the further apart of volcanic source and the keeping increase of eolian material (1.0 Ma), although surrounding conditions were still favorable, mineral element content still shows an obvious reducing trend. It thereby offers new carrier and data for the unclear paleoceanographic research of the target area since the terminal Late Miocene.

A piston core Z14-6 was used in this study. The core, 896 cm long, was collected from eastern slope of the Okinawa Trough (27°07′N, 127°27′E, water depth 739m). The δ18O and δ13C values of the sediment bearing planktonic foraminiferaG. sacculifer andN. dutertrei were determined; and the abundance of volcanic glass was analyzed. The volcanic glass content high occurred in early stage of polar ice-sheet growth period, or the beginning of cold climate periods corresponding to Milankovitch cycles (Peak I, II and V are corresponding to the beginnings of oxygen isotopic stages 2, 4 and 6, and Peak III and IV are matching oxygen isotopic stage 5b–5d.). It might be possible that volcanic episodes and climate changes were responding to orbital forcing in the Okinawa Trough in late Quaternary. The δ18O difference betweenN. dutertrei andG. sacculifer shows no clear correlation to the volcanic glass content high, which suggests that the volcanic eruptions did not influence the structure of upper water column. However, the low δ13C difference betweenG. sacculifer andN. dutertrei is coeval with the volcanic glass high or sub-high content. This fact suggests that volcanic eruptions might influence the reduction in vertical nutritional gradient and carbon cycle process in upper water column. A possible mechanism is that huge quantity of ash and dust had weakened the light intensity, resulting in photosynthesis reduction, productivity decrease, and biological pumping.

Eolian dust is an important material source of marine sediment and heavy metals influencing marine environment and primary productivity. Although the eastern China Seas and their adjacent regions are downwind of East Asian dust sources and have potentially high atmospheric input, study on the eolian dus in these regions is limited. This study on the compositions of eolian dust indicated that dust concentration and particle sizes varied with seasons and meteorologic conditions, that mineral and chemical compositions have significant regional variation, and that high Fe content is one of the characteristics of eolian dust which was found to be a mixture of natural loess and/or soil and anthropogenic matter that contained fairly high S and heavy metals.