The particle fluxes in sediment traps from Niulang Guyot area in the Northwest Pacific Ocean

The flux of settling particles in the ocean has been widely explored since 1980s due to its important role in biogenic elements cycling,especially in the transport of particulate organic carbon(POC)in the deep sea.However,research in the seamount area of the oligotrophic subtropical Northwest Pacific Ocean is lacking.In this work,two sediment traps were deployed at the foot and another two at the hillside of Niulang Guyot from August2017 to July 2018.The magnitude and composition of particle fluxes were measured.The main factors influencing the spatial variations of the fluxes were evaluated.Our results indicated a low particulate flux from Niulang Guyot area in the Northwest Pacific Ocean,reflecting low primary productivity of the oligotrophic ocean.The total mass flux(TMF)decreased from 2.57 g/(m^(2)·a)to 0.56 g/(m^(2)·a)with increasing depth from 600 m to 4850 m.A clear seasonal pattern of TMF was observed,with higher flux in summer than that in winter.The peak flux of 26.52 mg/(m^(2)·d)occurred in August at 600 m,while the lowest value of 0.07 mg/(m^(2)·d)was shown in February at 4850 m.The settling particles at the deep layers had similar biochemical composition,with calcium carbonate(CaCO_(3))accounting for up to 90%,followed by organic matter and opal,characteristics of Carbonate Ocean.The POC flux decreased more rapidly in the twilight layer because of faster decomposition,remineralization,and higher temperature.A small fraction of POC was transported into the deep ocean by biological pump.Particle fluxes were mainly controlled by the calcareous ballasts besides the primary productivity of the surface water.The advection may be another important factor affecting the flux in the seamount area.The combination of settled matters rich in foraminiferal tests with topography and currents may be the reason for regulating the local abundance of benthos on seamounts.Our results will fill in the knowledge gap of sedimentation flux,improve the understanding of ecosystem in Niulang Guyot area,and eventually provide data support for the optimization of regional ecological modeling.

Temporal and spatial distribution characteristics of nutrients in Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone in the Pacific in 2017

This research investigated eight stations in Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone(CCFZ)in the eastern tropical Pacific in 2017 to study the spatial distribution characteristics of nutrients and chlorophyll a(Chi a)concentration,and compared nutrient concentrations and molar ratios with those of other investigations 20 years ago in the same area.The study found that dissolved inorganic nutrient(N,P and Si)concentrations were lowest in the upper layer,and increased from surface to some depths,then they decreased a little to the bottom.N was the limited nutrient factor for the growth of phytoplankton community.Although nutrient concentrations and molar ratios have no obvious changes in 2017 comparing those in 1998-2003,supplemented from the equatorial Pacific,nutrient concentrations in the study area were higher than those in seamounts in the North Pacific and Station ALOHA.Furthermore,this study used Generalized Additive Models(GAMs)to infer the underlying bottom-up factors controlling phytoplankton abundance(Chi a concentration),showing that depth,salinity and PO^-P concentration were major factors controlling the growth of phytoplankton community.Furthermore,this study can provide basic data and theoretical support for the development of polymetallic nodule area and its long-term impact assessment on the environment.