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The service life of RC is dependent upon the superior nature of concrete and its overall quality and excellence as a suitable cover material. Concrete acting as cover material is the only m...

Geological sequestration of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) can be achieved by the erosion of organic carbon (OC) from the terrestrial biosphere and its burial in long-lived marine sediments. Rivers on mountain islands of Oceania in the western Pacific have very high rates of OC export to the ocean, yet its preservation offshore remains poorly constrained. Here we use the OC content (Corg, %), radiocarbon (Δ 14Corg) and stable isotope (δ13Corg) composition of sediments offshore Taiwan to assess the fate of terrestrial OC, using surface, sub-surface and Holocene sediments. We account for rock-derived OC to assess the preservation of OC eroded from the terrestrial biosphere and the associated CO2 sink during flood discharges (hyperpycnal river plumes) and when river inputs are dispersed more widely (hypopycnal). The Corg, Δ14Corg and δ 13Corg of marine sediment traps and cores indicate that during flood discharges, terrestrial OC can be transferred efficiently down submarine canyons to the deep ocean and accumulates offshore with little evidence for terrestrial OC loss. In marine sediments fed by dispersive river inputs, the Corg, Δ14Corg and δ 13Corg are consistent with mixing of terrestrial OC with marine OC and suggest that efficient preservation of terrestrial OC (>70%) is also associated with hypopycnal delivery. Sub-surface and Holocene sediments indicate that this preservation is long-lived on millennial timescales. Re-burial of rock-derived OC is pervasive. Our findings from Taiwan suggest that erosion and offshore burial of OC from the terrestrial biosphere may sequester >8 TgC yr−1 across Oceania, a significant geological CO2 sink which requires better constraint. We postulate that mountain islands of Oceania provide a strong link between tectonic uplift and the carbon cycle, one moderated by the climatic variability which controls terrestrial OC delivery to the ocean.

The global export of organic carbon (OC) is intimately linked to the total flux of terrestrial sediment to the ocean, with the continental margins receiving ~ 90% of the sediment generated by erosion on land. Recent studies suggest that a substantial amount of particulate OC (POC) might escape from the shelf and be exported to the continental slope-deep sea sector, although the mechanisms and magnitude of such deep sea POC transfer remain unknown. Here we investigate hyperpycnal flow-associated total suspended matter (TSM) collected from water depths of ~ 3000 m, near the bottom of sea floor, in the Gaoping Submarine Canyon (GSC) off southwestern Taiwan. Elemental (C, N), isotopic (δ 13 C, δ 15 N) and biomarker compositions of TSM were investigated to understand its biogeochemical characteristics. A two end-member δ 13 C mixing model indicates that deep sea TSM contains ~ 90% terrigenous OC, while a similar mixing model using δ 15 N reveals a lower proportion (~ 58%). Organic biomarkers of TSM suggest contributions from a mixture of resuspended, continental-margin derived marine organic matter (OM MAR ) and terrigenous sources, revealing that terrestrial OC likely mixes with nitrogen-rich marine material during rapid transport. This study documents that rapid transfer of terrigenous organic matter (OM TERR ) into the deeper regions of GSC occurred within a week of typhoon Morakot, likely through hyperpycnal injection of sediment-laden, warm freshwater from southern Taiwan. Evidence from this typhoon Morakot-induced hyperpycnal plume event in Taiwan demonstrates that extreme storm events provide an efficient way to export terrigenous OC without oxidation to hitherto unknown water depths of deep sea in the Oceania region.

Available reports of dissolved oxygen, δ15N of nitrate (δ 15NNO3) and δ15N of total nitrogen (δ15Nbulk) for trap material and surface/downcore sediments from the Arabian Sea (AS) were synthesized to explore the AS' past nitrogen dynamics. Based on 25 μmol kg−1 dissolved oxygen isopleth at a depth of 150 m, we classified all reported data into northern and southern groups. By using δ15Nbulk of the sediments, we obtained geographically distinctive bottom-depth effects for the northern and southern AS at different climate stages. After eliminating the bias caused by bottom depth, the modern-day sedimentary δ15Nbulk values largely reflect the δ15NNO3 supply from the bottom of the euphotic zone. Additionally to the data set, nitrogen and carbon contents vs. their isotopic compositions of a sediment core (SK177/11) collected from the most southeastern part of the AS were measured for comparison. We found a one-step increase in δ15Nbulk starting at the deglaciation with a corresponding decrease in δ13CTOC similar to reports elsewhere revealing a global coherence. By synthesizing and reanalyzing all reported down core δ15Nbulk, we derived bottom-depth correction factors at different climate stages, respectively, for the northern and southern AS. The diffusive sedimentary δ15Nbulk values in compiled cores became confined after bias correction revealing a more consistent pattern except recent 6 ka. Such high similarity to the global temporal pattern indicates that the nitrogen cycle in the entire AS had responded to open-ocean changes until 6 ka BP. Since 6 ka BP, further enhanced denitrification (i.e., increase in δ15Nbulk) in the northern AS had occurred and was likely driven by monsoon, while, in the southern AS, we observed a synchronous reduction in δ15Nbulk, implying that nitrogen fixation was promoted correspondingly as the intensification of local denitrification at the northern AS basin.

National Science Council of Taiwan [NSC 97-2629-M-001-025, NSC 99-2116-M-001-011]; National Science Foundation of China [41176059, 41121091]

The lack of a precisely-dated, unequivocal climate proxy from northern China, where precipitation variability is traditionally considered as an East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) indicator, impedes our understanding of the behaviour and dynamics of the EASM. Here we present a well-dated, pollen-based, ~20-yr-resolution quantitative precipitation reconstruction (derived using a transfer function) from an alpine lake in North China, which provides for the first time a direct record of EASM evolution since 14.7 ka (ka = thousands of years before present, where the “present” is defined as the year AD 1950). Our record reveals a gradually intensifying monsoon from 14.7–7.0 ka, a maximum monsoon (30% higher precipitation than present) from ~7.8–5.3 ka and a rapid decline since ~3.3 ka. These insolation-driven EASM trends were punctuated by two millennial-scale weakening events which occurred synchronously to the cold Younger Dryas and at ~9.5–8.5 ka and by two centennial-scale intervals of enhanced (weakened) monsoon during the Medieval Warm Period (Little Ice Age). Our precipitation reconstruction, consistent with temperature changes but quite different from the prevailing view of EASM evolution, points to strong internal feedback processes driving the EASM and may aid our understanding of future monsoon behaviour under ongoing anthropogenic climate change.

The well‐known earthquake‐and‐storm‐triggered extremely high physical weathering rate in Taiwan is consistent with present geochemical studies of sediments from different subenvironments (offshore, coastal, river, and lake) and sedimentary rocks of different geological ages, indicating a moderate chemical weathering condition. Major and trace element concentrations normalized to the average upper crust of Yangtze Craton show that the sediments and the average composition of sedimentary rocks of Taiwan are depleted in Ca, Mg, Na, and Sr, enriched in Rb and Zr, and unchanged with respect to K, indicating their moderately altered nature. The mean chemical index of alteration (CIA; 71–75) and plagioclase index of alteration (PIA; 81–86) values of coastal and offshore sediments reveal the sediments' derivation from sedimentary rocks by moderate silicate chemical weathering processes. The mean CIA value (62) of sedimentary rocks of Taiwan is similar to that for Chinese sediment (61), further confirming...

China (973 Program) [2009CB421200]; Program of Introducing Talents of Discipline to Universities [B07034]; Academia Sinica Thematic Program AFOBi, Taiwan [NSC 98-2116-M-001-005]

Sedimentary total organic carbon and carbon-to-nitrogen ratio records from the subalpine Retreat Lake in NE Taiwan reveal four centennial periods (~8–8.3, 5.1–5.7, 4.5–~2.1, and 2–1.6 kyr BP) of relatively reduced summer East Asian monsoon (EAM) precipitation that were superimposed on the insolation-dependent, long-term decreasing monsoon trend during the middle and late Holocene while early Holocene monsoon strength was controlled by glacial boundary conditions. Strikingly, all weak monsoon events correlate with the timings of low sea surface temperature in the tropical Pacific, maxima of hematite stained-grains in the sediments of North Atlantic, reduced formation of North Atlantic Deep Water, and low concentrations of atmospheric methane over Greenland, suggesting a globally well-connected postglacial climate (from ca. 8.6 kyr BP onwards). Persistent linkage of weak summer EAM-tropical Pacific and North Atlantic cooling-reduced global wetland extent during these intervals is believed to be driven by coupled ocean-atmosphere interactions, especially reduced heat and moisture transport and enhanced El Niño-Southern Oscillation in the tropical Pacific, as well as solar activity. Overall similarity of summer EAM with diverse proxy records and their coincidence to abrupt changes witnessed in other paleorecords across the world imply that the centennial-scale reorganizations in the tropical Pacific climate dynamics may have been playing an important role, of course closely in phase with solar variations and North Atlantic climate, in the Holocene summer EAM and, by extension, low-latitude's monsoon instability.

[1] Sedimentary geochemical records from subalpine Retreat Lake, subtropical Taiwan, document the unstable East Asian monsoon (EAM) climate over the past ∼10,300 years, with a weak EAM between ∼10.3 and 8.6 ky B.P., EAM intensity peaks between 8.6 and 7.7 ky B.P., and then gradually decrease in response to summer insolation, heat and moisture transport. Our proxy record reveals several weak monsoon intervals that correlate to low sea surface temperatures in the western tropical Pacific and cold events in the North Atlantic, linking the tropical Pacific, North Atlantic, and Polar climates because weak EAM events at ∼8.2, 5.4 and 4.5–2.1 ky B.P. also correspond to low values of atmospheric methane and periods of reduced North Atlantic Deep Water formation. We therefore suggest that centennial to millennial scale monsoon variability during the Holocene in the northern subtropics is globally-mediated via a sun-ocean-monsoon-North Atlantic linkage.

The bioconcentration levels of essential (Cu, Fe, Mg, Mn, and Zn) and non-essential (As, Cd, Hg, Pb, and Sn) elements have been investigated in different terrestrial biota such as fungi, plant, earthworm, snail, crab, insect, amphibian, lizard, snake, and bat including the associated soil, to investigate the ecosystem health status in Kenting National Park, Taiwan. High bioconcentrations of Cd, Hg, and Sn in snail, earthworm, crab, lizard, snake, and bat indicated a contaminated terrestrial ecosystem. High concentrations of Cd, Hg, and Sn in plant species, effective bioaccumulation of Cd by earthworm, snail, crab and bat, as well as very high levels of Hg found in invertebrates, amphibians, and reptiles revealed a strong influence from industrial pollution on the biotic community. This study for the first time presents data on the impact of heavy metal pollution on various terrestrial organisms in Taiwan.