Sulfate reduction and reduced sulfur speciation in the coastal sediments of Qi’ao Island in the Zhujiang Estuary in China

YIN Xi-jie; ZHOU Huai-yang; YANG Quen-hui; SUN Zhi-lei

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YIN Xi-jie, ZHOU Huai-yang, YANG Quen-hui, SUN Zhi-lei. Sulfate reduction and reduced sulfur speciation in the coastal sediments of Qi’ao Island in the Zhujiang Estuary in China[J]. Haiyang Xuebao, 2010, 32(3): 31-39.

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Sulfate reduction and reduced sulfur speciation in the coastal sediments of Qi’ao Island in the Zhujiang Estuary in China

1.
Third Institute of Oceanography,State Oceanic Administration,Xiamen 361005, China;Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China
2.
Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China;State Key Laboratory of Marine Geology, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China
3.
Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China

Received Date: 2009-04-15
Rev Recd Date: 2009-11-18

Abstract

Abstract

The concentrations of methane and sulfate in pore-water and pools of reduced sulfur compounds (acid volatile sulfur, pyrite and organic sulfur) and total organic carbon in sediment were determined at three sites (QA-11, QA-9 and QA-14) in the shore sediments of Qi’ao Island in the Zhujiang Estuary. By using a steady state diffusive model,sulfate reduction and anaerobic oxidation methane fluxes were calculated from pore-water sulfate and methane profiles. The sulfate reduction flux equaled 1.74 and 1.14 mmol/(m²·d) at Sites QA-9 and QA-14, and the methane anaerobic flux equaled 0.34 and 0.29 mmol/(m²(d) respectively.Because the sulfate supply from overlying water is limited in intertidal sediment, the depth of sulfate reduction zone is shallow at Site QA-11. With the increasing of the distance from the coast and the seawater depth, the sulfate reduction flux gradually decreased from Sites QA-9 to QA-14 located in the subtidal zone, sulfate reduction might be controlled by the supply of organic matter in sediment, meanwhile the contribution of the anaerohic oxidation of methane to the sulfate reduction increased from 19.2% to 25.5％. The results show that according to the order of high to low content of reduced sulfur of different forms in sediment they are organic sulfur,pyrite,acid volatile sulfur. The concentration of AVS and the sulfate reduction flux showed obvious correlation in the sedimentary cores of three sites. The values of the sulfur content ratio of pyrite to AVS were 7.9 and 3.6 at Sites QA-11 and QA-14 respectively, suggesting that AVS could be transformed to pyrite efficiently and the sulfate reduction was likely to limit formation of pyrite in the sediments, and the sulfur content ratio of pyrite to AVS being less than 3, with value of 2.2, at Site QA-9 indicated that sulfide mineralization was limited by the availability of highly reactive iron.
- sulfate reduction,
- anaerobic oxidation of methane,
- acid volatile sulfur,
- pyrite,
- organic sulfur,
- methane

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