Organic Geochemical Characteristics of Time-Series Settling Particles in Northern South China Sea and Their Implications

Organic carbon, total nitrogen, amino acids, sugars, and chlorophyll were determined in < 1 mm fractions of the samples collected by successive large aperture time-series sediment traps (Honjo-Mark Ⅵ ) in northern China China Sea during September 1987 to October1988. The ratio of C/N and the relative abundance of amino acids and sugars show that organicmatter in the settling particles from northem South China Sea is derived mainly from marineplantkon (especially phytoplankton). The organic carbon fluxes in our sediment traps are lowerthan those in other sediment traps. But the relative contents of Corg/total particulate matter aregenerally similar to those in the Panama Basin, Arabian Sea and Subarctic Pacific. It is suggested that monsoon-caused changes of physical and chemical conditions in the upper euphoticlayer would contro the fluxes of organic matter as well as its composition and transport innorthern South China Sea.