Grain size distribution characteristics in surface sediments near the Dalian Bay and their hydrodynamic environmental implications

Based on grain size analysis for the offshore surface sediments of the Dalian Bay, the assemblages and distribution characteristics of grain size were acquired, and their sources and sedimentary environments as well as the dominant factors were also discussed preliminarily. The results indicate that the silt has the highest content of 52% in average, followed by sand of 34%. Clay is enriched in the central plateau subregion with the average content of 14%. They are distributed with the strap-shape from east to west, which is consistent with the distribution pattern of minerals there. The coastal shallow-water slope in the north of the study area is characterized by the enrichment of coarser deposition, indicating strong hydrodynamic conditions and nearby source. With water depth increasing southward, silt and clay fraction, mainly enriched on a subaquatic platform with better sorting, are considered to be transported far away. To the further south of the study area with the deepest water off another subaquatic slop, coarse fraction is the highest, implying strong hydrodynamic conditions induced by tide currents which pass in and out the Bohai Sea and Yellow Sea Warm Current that enters the Bohai Sea.

Use of QSAR and SSD methods on deriving predicted no-effect concentrations in seawater and sediment for ten individual parent-and alkyl-PAHs and a case study on the assessment of their ecological risks from the Dalian Bay, China

Parent and alkylated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons(alkyl-PAHs),which are a class of important toxic components of crude oil especially in the marine environment,exhibit adverse effects on aquatic life and potentially pose a human health risk.However,the lack of chronic toxicity data is one of the hindrances for alkylPAHs when assessing their ecological risks.In this study,predicted no-effect concentrations(PNECs)in seawater and marine sediment for ten parent-and alkyl-PAHs were derived by applying species sensitivity distributions(SSDs)and quantitative structure-activity relationships(QSARs).The local area,Dalian Bay,where an oil-spilled accident happened in 2010,was chosen as a case site to assess ecological risks for ten PAHs in surface seawaters and marine sediments.Their PNECs in seawater and sediment for protecting aquatic organisms in marine ecosystems were calculated and recommended in the range of 0.012-2.79μg/L and 48.2-1337 ng/g(dry weight),respectively.Overall,the derived PNECs for the studied PAHs in seawater and marine sediment were comparable to those obtained by classical methods.Risk quotient results indicate low ecological risks to ecosystems for ten parent-and alkyl-PAHs in surface seawaters and surface sediments from the Dalian Bay.These findings provide a first insight into the PNECs and ecological risks of alkyl-PAHs,emphasizing the role of the computational toxicology in ecological risk assessments.The use of QSARs has been identified as a valuable tool for preliminarily assessing ecological risks of emerging pollutants,being more predictable of real exposure scenarios for risk assessment purposes.

PH_3 monitoring in Arctic and Dalian bay areas

In this paper, we use pre-column 2 times low-temperature cryo-trap enrichment--gas chromatography（GC） /nitrogen and phosphorus detector（NPD）to detect and analyze phosphine in Arctic pole area for the first time. The results show phosphine exists in all of the samples in Arctic pole biosphere and phosphine concentration in Arctic atmosphere is between 18.54- 132.18 ng/m^3, almost the same as that in Antarctic atmosphere; phosphine concentration in Dalian bay sea surface sediments is between 116. 8- 554.3 ng/kg, almost the same as that reported in Jiao-zhou bay. Our research of phosphine will shed new light on the mechanisms showing how the phosphorus supplement influences the biogeochemical cycle and global warming.