Evaluation of environmental proxies based on long chain alkyl diols in the East China Sea

Abstract Long chain alkyl diols (LCDs) in marine environments are useful indicators of source organisms, ambient temperature, upwelling and nutrient conditions. However, the distribution of LCDs in the western Pacific marginal seas has been rarely reported, where wide shallow continental shelves and huge freshwater input from many rivers occur. In this study, we analyzed LCDs in surface sediments distributed from the Changjiang River estuary (CRE) to the East China Sea shelf to evaluate their sources and associated environmental proxies. Our results showed that the fractional abundance of C32 1,15-diol (FC32 1,15-diol) was highest in coastal area close to the CRE, with FC32 1,15-diol > 15% implying significant freshwater input. The C28 and C30 1,13-diols showed a similar spatial distribution to the C32 1,15-diol, suggesting that the long chain diol index (LDI), a sea surface temperature (SST) proxy, may be biased by freshwater-derived diols. By excluding the freshwater-influenced samples (i.e., FC32 1,15-diol > 15%), LDI reflected the autumn SST, yielding minimum temperature residuals (0.2 ± 1.5 °C). The C28, C30 and C30:1 1,14-diols were abundant in the mid-depth (15–45 m) offshore environment that was affected only slightly by the Changjiang River plume, and decreased toward both the eutrophic estuarine and oligotrophic marine environments; whereas the C28:1 1,14-diol showed higher fractional abundances close to the CE. The spatial distribution of 1,14-diols is similar to that reported for Proboscia diatoms in this region, although the exact sources of 1,14-diol requires further study. Nutrient proxies based on 1,14-diols did not correlate well with nutrient concentrations in this river-dominated marginal sea, where nutrient supply is dominated by the Changjiang River input.