Science of the Total Environment 572 (2016) 6876

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Science of the Total Environment

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/scitotenv

Temporal variation of sedimentation rates and potential factors

inuencing those rates over the last 100 years in Bohai Bay, China
Yan Zhang a, Xueqiang Lu a,, Xiaolong Shao a, Chen Chen a, Xiaojuan Li b, Feng Zhao b,
Gang Li b, Eijij Matsumoto c
a
Tianjin Academy of Environmental Sciences, 17 Fukang Road, Nankai District, Tianjin 300191, China
b
Tianjin Institute of Radioactive Environment Management, 17 Fukang Road, Nankai District, Tianjin 300191, China
c
Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Nagoya University, Nagoya 464-8601, Japan

H I G H L I G H T S G R A P H I C A L A B S T R A C T

The detailed and accurate chronologies

for the sediments over the last 100
years in the Bohai Bay, China were
established.
The year of 1980 was a key point for
sedimentation rates and it revealed the
different factors during the two periods.
Riverine input was the main factor be-
fore 1980 while the coastal reclamation
become the key factor after 1980.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Fourteen sediment cores were collected from Bohai Bay, China, which is close to the fast-developing megacities
Received 30 March 2016 such as Beijing and Tianjin, and dated using excess Pb-210 and Cs-137. Using the constant rate of supply model
Received in revised form 9 July 2016 (CRS), the temporal variation of sedimentation rates over the last 100 years in Bohai Bay was determined, and its
Accepted 24 July 2016
main factors inuencing sedimentation rates were discussed. The sedimentation rates before 1980 were relative-
Available online xxxx
ly stable, ranging from 0.26 0.04 g/(cm2y) in 1920 to 0.39 0.08 g/(cm2y) in 1980. A gradual increase in
Editor: D. Barcelo sedimentation rate was found from 0.39 0.08 g/(cm2y) in 1980 to 0.84 0.13 g/(cm2y) in 2010. Riverine
input was the main factors inuencing sedimentation rates in Bohai Bay before 1980. After 1980, the accelerated
Keywords: increase in sedimentation rate may be attributed to the large-scale reclamation along the coastline. It is worth
Sedimentation rate noting that eutrophication caused by an increase in sewage discharge and overuse of chemical fertilizer, also
Temporal variation may inuence recent acceleration in sedimentation rate.
Inuencing factor 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
210
Pb
Bohai Bay

1. Introduction

Coastal areas are generally well developed economically and the im-
pact of human activities on coastal environments is often intense
Corresponding author. (Douvere, 2008; Kirwan and Megonigal, 2013). Coastal sediments are
E-mail address: xueqianglu@gmail.com (X. Lu). reliable archives of environmental processes and evolution in a

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.07.172
0048-9697/ 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
 Y. Zhang et al. / Science of the Total Environment 572 (2016) 6876
relatively stable sedimentary environment (Lu et al., 2014; Wang et al.,
2013). Particulate matters from different sources convey certain infor-
mation about the environmental in which they originated. For example,
particles classied as marine organic matter (OM) originate from algae,
bacteria, and aquatic macrophytes in water systems, whereas terrige-
nous OM, primarily carried from continents by rivers, includes plant-
and soil-leached organic materials (Zhang et al., 2015). Among the nu-
merous parameters relevant when studying sediment, one of the most
fundamental and important is the sedimentation rate, which allows to
reconstruct environmental evolution processes and to characterize the
human impact on the coastal environment (Lu and Matsumoto, 2005;
Mary et al., 2015). The sedimentation rate is partly controlled by the sed-
iment supply, which depends on climate, transformation of river and its
catchment, as well as other processes occurring in the sea (Armitage et
al., 2011). Although some natural events such as oods signicantly affect
sedimentation rates, most of factors are linked to human activities (e.g.
reclamation, urbanization, industrialization, deforestation etc.) (Godoy
et al., 2012; Lu and Matsumoto, 2005; Sanders et al., 2016) Radioactive
nuclides, such as 210Pb and 137Cs, have been widely employed to calculate
sediment deposition and accumulation rates in marine environments
(Lepore et al., 2009; Ruiz-Fernndez et al., 2011; Sanders et al., 2008;
Santos et al., 2008; Schuler et al., 1991).
Bohai Bay is located in the west of the Bohai Sea (Fig. 1) and
surrounded by the Bohai Economic Ring, which is the economic center
in northern China, including the megacities of Beijing and Tianjin. The
water from the Haihe River basin, the largest watershed in the Bohai
Bay catchment, ows into the bay mainly through the Tianjin Binhai
New Area, a new coastal developmental zone. This area has been desig-
nated as an economic development area and the GDP growth rate is
among the top three in China. Rapid industrialization and urbanization
in the Tianjin Binhai New Area have imposed increasing pressure on the
Bohai Bay environment.
The objectives of this study are: a) to establish a sediment chronolo-
gy showing the change of sedimentation rate in the Bohai Bay over the
last 100 years using the 210Pb and 137Cs methods; b) to explore the main
factors causing variation of sedimentation rate in Bohai Bay; and c) to
discuss the impact of human activities on the sedimentation rates in
an extremely rapidly developing area.
Fig. 1. Locations of sampling.
69
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Sample collection and treatment
Sampling was conducted in Bohai Bay in August 2011 at locations
determined bathymetrically with water depth of 5 m, 10 m and 20 m
(Fig. 1). The sediment cores were collected using a cylindrical gravity
corer with a 10-cm diameter and were generally 3050 cm in length.
Each core was segmented every 2 cm from top to bottom. All samples
were sealed in polythene bags in situ and stored at 04 C until analysis.
In the laboratory, these wet samples were weighed and then air-dried
for 7 days. The dried samples were weighed again to determine the
water content. The dried samples were sieved through a nylon sieve
with a 1-mm mesh to remove stones and shells, and ground into a
ne powder in a mortar. Then, the samples were sealed and storied
for more than one month to ensure secular equilibrium between Ra-
226 and the daughter that were actually being measured. The radio ac-
tivities for dried and homogenized samples weighting of 23 g in cali-
brated geometries were counted for 48 h to 72 h, using a high-purity
germanium detector (GMX60P4, EG&G ORTEC).
Using known characteristic gamma peaks, the activities of 210Pb
(46.5 keV), 214Pb (295.2 keV) and 214Pb (351.9 keV) were measured.
The activities of 137Cs were measured by counting its 661.63 keV
gamma radiation. The standard sample from HTA Co., Ltd. was prepared
like regular samples and measured as a reference to correct peak loca-
tion and to calculate peak intensity.
2.2. Calculation model
The constant rate of supply model (CRS) was used to calculate sedi-
mentation rates. The assumption of a constant rate of supply of excess
210
Pb into the sediments for CRS allows calculation of the age through-
out the core proles, despite evidence for rapidly accelerating accumu-
lation (Appleby and Oldeld, 1978; Appleby and Oldeld, 1992). The
principal source of excess 210Pb in marine sediments is thought to be di-
rect atmospheric fallout. In some coastal areas, excess 210Pb originates
from terrigenous particulate matter or from the erosion of the seaboard.
The airborne 210Pb ux varies diurnally and seasonally. Nevertheless,
70 Y. Zhang et al. / Science of the Total Environment 572 (2016) 6876

Activity (Bq/g) Activity (Bq/g) Activity (Bq/g)

0.00 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.10 0.00 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.00 0.03 0.06 0.09 0.12
0 0 0

5
5
10
10
10

Massdepth (cm)
20 15
Massdepth (cm)

Massdepth (cm)
15
20
30 20
25
25
40 30
30
35
50
35 40
BH1 BH2 BH3
60 40 45
Activity (Bq/g) Activity (Bq/g) Activity (Bq/g)
0.00 0.03 0.06 0.09 0.12 0.00 0.03 0.06 0.09 0.12 0.00 0.03 0.06 0.09 0.12
0 0 0

5 5
10
10 10
20

Massdepth (cm)
Massdepth (cm)

Massdepth (cm)

15 15

20 20 30

25 25
40
30 30
50
35 35
BH4 BH5 BH6
40 40 60
Activity (Bq/g) Activity (Bq/g) Activity (Bq/g)
0.00 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.00 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.00 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08
0 0 0

5 5
5

10 10
10
Massdepth (cm)

Massdepth (cm)
Massdepth (cm)

15 15

20 15 20

25 25
20

30 30
25
35 35
BH7 BH10 BH11
40 30 40
Activity (Bq/g) Activity (Bq/g)
0.00 0.03 0.06 0.09 0.12 0.00 0.03 0.06 0.09 0.12
0 0

5
5
10
Massdepth (cm)
Massdepth (cm)

10
15

15 20

25
20
30
25
35
BH12 BH13
30 40

Fig. 2. Proles of excess 210Pb (solid square) and 137Cs (open square).
 Y. Zhang et al. / Science of the Total Environment 572 (2016) 6876
the average annual ux remains constant (Sheets and Lawrence, 1999),
which indicates the applicability of the CRS model.
The concentration of excess 210Pb in sediment at the cumulative
mass of sediment (hereinafter, mass depth) m can be described as fol-
lows:
f t
C m e 1
St
where C(m) (Bq/g) is the activity of excess 210Pb at mass depth m, f (Bq/
(cm2y)) is the ux of excess 210Pb, S(t) (g/(cm2y)) is the sedimenta-
tion rate at time t, and (0.03114, y1) is the decay constant of 210Pb
(Appleby and Oldeld, 1978; Krishnaswamy et al., 1971). Mass depth
(m) instead of depth is used to remove compaction effects. Mass
depth (m) can be calculated using the water content (Huo et al., 2013;
Lu and Matsumoto, 2005).
The age of sediments at mass depth m is given by:
Z There was a distinct peak of 137Cs in core BH13 and the relative error
C mdm
1 means that the 210Pb method was valid. The shape of most 137Cs proles
t ln Z 0
: 2
C mdm
m tern (Fig. 2). Cs-137 activities in the upper layers do not tend toward
The sedimentation rate at mass depth m is calculated from the fol-
lowing formula:
Z In the northern area of Bohai Bay, the sedimentation rate was rela-
C mdm
St m
: 3
C m
Actually, the calculated age and sedimentation rate in Eqs. (2) and
(3) are the age at each sediment layer bottom (mass depth m) and the
average sedimentation rate of the layer, respectively. Herein, the aver-
age sedimentation rate was identied as the rate at the middle of the
layer. Meanwhile, the date at the middle of the layer can be calculated
using the mean of the dates at the layer top and bottom. Thus, the sed-
imentation rate for specic year can be interpolated using the calculated
rates and dates. Spatially, an average sedimentation rate of Bohai Bay in
specic year can be calculated using the arithmetic mean of 210Pb-de-
rived rates for the specic year of each core. The sediment layer includ-
ing the peak of 137Cs was identied as the year of 1963, which was then
used to calculate the 137Cs-derived average sedimentation rate for the
validation of the 210Pb-derived sedimentation rates. For cores lacking
this 137Cs peak, the sediment layer with rst occurrence of 137Cs was es-
timated as dating from 1954 to conduct the calculation (Lu and
Matsumoto, 2006). To ensure that the comparison between the 137Cs-
derived and 210Pb-derived average sedimentation rates was conducted
over the same time scale, the averages of 210Pb-derived sedimentation
rate used the mass depth divided by time at the depth over which the
average was desired.
2.3. Statistical treatment
A normality test was conducted before calculating the average sedi-
mentation rate of different cores in the same year and abnormal values
were eliminated after the test. A paired t-test was used to assess the dif-
ferences in inventory and ux between different cores.
3. Results
3.1. Proles of excess 210Pb and 137Cs
The chronology for cores BH8, BH9 and BH14 could not be recon-
structed due to insufcient length acquired (less than 20 cm). In gener-
al, the proles of excess 210Pb in reconstructed cores showed a non-
linear and non-monotonic decrease with mass depth (Fig. 2). The
71
activities of excess 210Pb were stable below the 20 cm layer while it
showed an increasing trend above the 20 cm layer. Activities of 137Cs
were low, with no distinct peak for some cores such as BH3, BH4, and
BH5 and values below the detection limit for cores BH2, BH10 and BH11.
3.2. Characteristics of the variations of the sedimentation rate
Sedimentation rate showed an increasing trend over time and inten-
sied, particularly from 1980 onwards (Fig. 3). Sedimentation rates
ranged from 0.313 0.072 g/(cm2y) to 0.493 0.129 g/(cm2y),
with a mean value of 0.378 0.204 g/(cm2y). Values higher than
0.8 g/(cm2 y) were measured in the surface sediments of cores BH2,
BH3, BH4, BH6 and BH12. For most cores (except cores BH6, BH12 and
BH13), the sedimentation rates derived from the 210Pb method were
slightly higher than those derived from the 137Cs method (Table 1).
The relative error of mean sedimentation rates derived from the two
methods was between 4.14% (core BH13) and 21.56% (core BH7).
of mean sedimentation rates of both methods was the smallest, which
(cores BH3, BH4 and BH5) does not reect the atmospheric input pat-
zero and the 1963 peak is attened. The large relative error measured
in core BH4 may be due to the post-depositional mobilization of 137Cs
in sediments and the additional catchment-derived input.
tively high from 1920 to 1980 (Fig. 4), while its spatial distribution in
the rest of Bohai Bay were large varied greatly after 1980. This empha-
sizes the impact of human activities on sedimentation rates after 1980.
In order to understand the variation of the sedimentation rate in the
Bohai Bay over the last 100 years, a statistical analysis has been conduct-
ed across several years. There is an overall increasing trend in sedimen-
tation rate in Bohai Bay (Fig. 5), and the year of 1980 is a clear turning
point. Indeed, the sedimentation rates before 1980 were relatively sta-
ble, ranging from 0.26 0.04 g/(cm2y) in 1920 to 0.39 0.08 g/
(cm2y) in 1980. An accelerated increase in sedimentation rates was
found from 0.39 0.08 g/(cm2y) in 1980 to 0.84 0.13 g/(cm2y)
in 2010.
Fig. 5 shows the variation of sedimentation ux with time in Bohai
Bay (Interpolation region). The trend was similar to that of the sedimen-
tation rates. The average sedimentation ux was estimated at 0.38 mil-
lion tons per decade from 1920 to 1980. However, from 1980 to 2010,
the sedimentation ux increased dramatically, to a rate of
3.19 million tons per decade.
4. Discussion
4.1. Inventory and ux of excess 210Pb in Bohai Bay
The inventory of excess 210Pb ranged from 0.415 0.012 Bq/cm2
(BH7, Table 2) to 1.394 0.132 Bq/cm2 (BH13) with an average of
0.879 0.114 Bq/cm2. The corresponding ux of excess 210Pb was
0.0130.043 Bq/(cm2y) with an average of 0.029 0.002 Bq/
(cm2y). Spatially, the ux of excess 210Pb was relatively low in the
cores sampled far away from the coastline (e.g., BH7, BH10, and BH11).
Generally, more Rn-222 is released from continental material than
the ocean, and high atmospheric ux rates of 210Pb are obtained from
the continental zones with the impact of the prevailing wind (Sanders
et al., 2011; Schettler et al., 2006). However, the locations in the bay
were surrounded by land. Thus, the variation of atmospheric fallout of
210
Pb may be not the major factor to inuence the variation of inventory
and ux of excess 210Pb in Bohai Bay. Instead of the atmospheric fallout
of 210Pb, riverine inputs around the western coastline also contributed
to the 210Pb ux in Bohai Bay. The highest value of excess 210Pb ux
was observed in core BH13 (0.043 0.002 Bq/(cm2 y)). This core was
near the mouth of the Duliujian River, which is one of the key ood-
72 Y. Zhang et al. / Science of the Total Environment 572 (2016) 6876

2 2 2
Sedimentation rate (g/(cm y)) Sedimentation rate (g/(cm y)) Sedimentation rate(g/(cm y))
0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
2000 2000 2000

1980
1980 1980
1960
1960 1960
1940
1940 1940
1920
1920 1920
1900

1880 1900 1900

BH1 BH2 BH3

1860 1880 1880

2 2 2
Sedimentation rate (g/(cm y)) Sedimentation rate (g/(cm y)) Sedimentation rate (g/(cm y))
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
2000 2000
2000
1980
1980 1980
1960
1940 1960 1960
1920
1940 1940
1900
1880 1920 1920
1860
1900 1900
1840
BH4 BH5 BH6
1820 1880 1880
2 2
Sedimentation rate (g/(cm y)) Sedimentation rate (g/(cm y)) 2
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 Sedimentation rate (g/(cm y))
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8
2000
2000 2000
1980
1960 1980 1980
1940 1960
1960
1920
1940
1900 1940
1880 1920
1860 1920
1900
1840
1900
1880
1820
BH7 BH10 BH11
1800 1880 1860

2 2
Sedimentation rate (g/(cm y)) Sedimentation rate (g/(cm y))
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6

2000 2000

1980
1980
1960
1960
1940
1940
1920
1920
1900

1880 1900

BH12 BH13
1860 1880
 Y. Zhang et al. / Science of the Total Environment 572 (2016) 6876
Table 1
Comparison of mean sedimentation rate (g/(cm2y)) derived from the 210Pb and 137Cs
methods in different cores.
210 137
Core Pb method Cs method Relative error
BH1 0.369 0.102 0.343 0.113 7.05%
BH3 0.464 0.123 0.389 0.096 16.16%
BH4 0.398 0.131 0.333 0.102 16.33%
BH5 0.371 0.115 0.341 0.111 8.09%
BH6 0.473 0.134 0.566 0.114 16.43%
BH7 0.385 0.203 0.302 0.099 21.56%
BH12 0.246 0.168 0.303 0.097 18.81%
BH13 0.301 0.054 0.314 0.104 4.14%
discharge rivers for the southern Haihe River basin. During the ood
season, the rain washes the rich 210Pb particles off the soil and into
the rivers, which then converge toward the Duliujian River. Thus, the
relatively high 210Pb ux in core BH13 may be a result of ood discharge
from the Duliujian River.
4.2. Temporal variation of sedimentation rates and its inuencing factors
The remarkable increase in sedimentation rates in Bohai Bay after
1980 shows the growing inuence of human activities, which, in a larg-
er context, may be related to the policy of economic reform and open-
ing-up carried out by China in 1978. Since the economic reform and
opening-up, China entered a stage of rapid economic development
with a series of reform policies, such as opening-up to the foreign in-
vestment, construction of economic development areas, etc. Mean-
while, the environmental problems became serious with the
accelerated economic development.
4.2.1. Main inuencing factor before 1980: riverine input
Fig. 6 shows the historic total river discharge from the main rivers
(the Douhe, Jiyun, Chaobaixin, Yongdingxin, Haihe, Duliujian, and
Ziyaxin Rivers) around the western coastline owed into the bay from
1950 to 2005. The river discharge signicantly affected the sedimenta-
tion rate due to the carried large quantities of riverine sediments. It
can be discovered from the obvious linear correlation between the col-
lected river discharge and the riverine suspended particles discharges
(R2 = 0.941, n = 44). Riverine suspended particles transported from
the rivers into the offshore area of the bay subsided in different areas
under the inuence of a ring current, nally forming sediments. In this
process, the riverine suspended particles into the sea will be inuenced
by boundary scavenging and the deposition of these suspended parti-
cles would exceed local rates in marine margins (Smoak et al., 2000).
In the tidal ats of Bohai Bay, the sedimentation rates ranged from
1.25 g/(cm2y) to 7.5 g/(cm2y) (Wang et al., 2008). The maximum sed-
imentation rate was one order of magnitude higher than the sedimenta-
tion rate in this study. However, the boundary scavenging in Bohai Bay
only occurred in the stripe about 10 km width along the coastline
(Wang et al., 2008). The lower sedimentation rate (0.2 cm/y 0.5 g/
(cm2y)) was found in the shallow water (near core BH11). The result
was similar to that of this study (0.62 g/(cm2y)).
The riverine suspended particles actually contributed to the sedi-
ments of Bohai Bay. The contribution ratio of terrigenous particles had
a signicant gradient from the coast to the center of Bohai Bay (Zhang
et al., 2015). In the 1950s, the average river discharge was
1.44 1010 m3. However, the river discharge kept decreasing due to
the increasing construction of water conservancy projects over the
years in the upper stream. There was a turning point in 1980, from
which the river discharge reduced rapidly to 1.0 109 m3. During the
Fig. 3. Sedimentation rates derived from 210Pb in Bohai Bay.
73
21st century, the average river discharge was signicantly lower,
around 3.2 107 m3 per year. Consequently, it is believed that before
1980, the main factors inuence sedimentation rate variation in Bohai
Bay was the river inow from the Haihe River basin.
In order to prevent seawater encroachment during the high tide,
sluice gates were built in most estuaries. In the non-ood season, sluice
gates are closed. As a result, the rivers become reservoir-like water bod-
ies, causing large amount of sediments deposits s to accumulate in the
sluice gate. In ood season, signicant water surges occur when the
sluice gate is open, releasing large amount of sediments to Bohai Bay. Al-
though total river discharge reduced rapidly, the impulse-type surge
caused by opened sluice gates was also an important driver of riverine
input variations. In this process, sediment focusing could be responsible
for the high uxes of 210Pb in some special areas (Moore et al., 1981).
From the spatial distribution of uxes of 210Pb in Bohai Bay, it can be
found that the uxes of 210Pb was relatively high in cores BH3, BH6
and BH13 (Table 2), which were close to the river mouth of Douhe,
Haihe and Duliujianhe Rivers (Fig. 1). Sediment focusing were caused
by the transport of particle-reactive species that have been scavenged
in the sluice gates and transported to the bay in particulate form in
ood season.
4.2.2. Main inuencing factor after 1980: coastal reclamation
As shown in Fig. 6, after 1980, the river discharge of the bay de-
creased rapidly. Therefore, the riverine sediments brought into the bay
by rivers decreased correspondingly. However, the sedimentation rate
in Bohai Bay did not decrease with decreased river discharge before
1980 and tended to increase after 1980. The main cause for such varia-
tion was probably the increasing coastal reclamation, which is similar to
Ise Bay, Japan (Lu and Matsumoto, 2005). Fig. 7 illustrates the coastal
reclamation along the western coastal line of Bohai Bay and shows
that the average area of coastal reclamation increased dramatically.
From 1984 to 2010, the average area of coastal reclamation each ve
year period was 53.53 km2, 100.04 km2 and 485.95 km2, respectively.
From 2010 to 2014, the reclamation area was 171.06 km2.
The coastal reclamation mainly adopts the backll method, which
rst digs mud using a dredger, then pours out the water-sludge mixture
into the reclamation area through a pipeline, and nally extrudes water
from the mud. Consequently, throughout the backll process, large
amounts of offshore sediments and particles are re-suspended in the
water, before reaching deeper zones via current. There is a gradient of
turbidity from the center (1.4 m) of Bohai Bay to the coastal reclamation
area (0.3 m). Coastal reclamation projects along the coastline and the
impulse-type surge of open sluice gates have thus become the main fac-
tors controlling the sedimentation rate of Bohai Bay. In other words,
human activities have directly affected the sedimentation process in
the bay after 1980.
4.2.3. Additional indirect inuencing factor after 1980: eutrophication
The eutrophication index was used to evaluate the degree of eutro-
phication of an environment (Strain and Yeats, 1999). Higher values in-
dicate the presence of more algae in the water column. Fig. 8 illustrates
the eutrophication index of Bohai Bay between 1976 and 2004. Before
1980, the eutrophication remained relatively low with the average eu-
trophication index less than 1. After 1980, the eutrophication became
much more serious. From 1989 to 1999, the average eutrophication
index was 1.68. Sometimes, the index exceeded 3 because of serious
eutrophication.
The impact of eutrophication on sedimentation rates was an indirect
process adding up to the main factors, namely riverine input and coastal
activities. Eutrophication could lead to higher abundance of alga, whose
growth and death processes will add more OM to the inventory (Wang
et al., 2005). Furthermore, as an efcient way to remove algae particles
74 Y. Zhang et al. / Science of the Total Environment 572 (2016) 6876

Fig. 4. The spatial variation of sedimentation rate in Bohai Bay in different years g/(cm2y).

25 from the water involves the use of clay occulation (Pierce et al., 2004;
1.0 Sengco, 2001), in contrast to this, algae outbreaks could contribute to
the removal of more ne clay particles, which eventually helps to in-
Sedimentation rate (g/(cm y))

Sedimentation flux (10 tons)

20
crease the sedimentation rate. An experiment was conducted to prove
2

0.8
the speculation. The 10 ml DOM with a concentration of 146 mg/l ex-
6

15 tracted from marine algae was added into a beaker with 500 ml kaoline
0.6
suspension liquid, which concentration was 874 mg/l. After 12 h, the
concentration of kaoline in experimental group was only 34% than
0.4 10 that in control group. Although the OM only accounted for 6.32%
14.21% of the sediment mass, it was composed of numerous functional
0.2
5

0.0
0
Riverine sediment discharge (10 tons)

1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 30 1000

3

2
800 R =0.941
n=44
Fig. 5. Variation of sedimentation rate (box chart) and sediment ux (solid square) in
25
River discharge (10 m )

600
Bohai Bay in different years.
3

400
9

20
200

Table 2 0
Inventory and ux of excess 210Pb in different cores. 15
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
9 3
River discharge (10 m )
Core Inventory (Bq/cm2) Flux (Bq/(cm2y))
10
BH1 0.869 0.040 0.027 0.001
BH2 0.825 0.041 0.026 0.001
BH3 1.032 0.063 0.032 0.001 5
BH4 0.948 0.054 0.030 0.001
BH5 0.914 0.056 0.028 0.001
BH6 1.256 0.092 0.039 0.002 0
BH7 0.415 0.033 0.013 0.001 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000
BH10 0.501 0.037 0.016 0.001
BH11 0.537 0.069 0.017 0.001
Fig. 6. Variation characteristics of river discharge and the correlation analysis on the river
BH12 0.982 0.084 0.031 0.001
discharge and riverine sediment discharges (data from Tianjin Hydrological Monitoring
BH13 1.394 0.091 0.043 0.002
Stations).
 Y. Zhang et al. / Science of the Total Environment 572 (2016) 6876 75

groups and acted as occulants or combined with inorganic particulates

(Lee et al., 2008). In addition, occulation via increasing ionic strength
as fresh water and associated particles enter the saline water of Bohai
Bay should not be neglected (Lin et al., 2001).
The eutrophication of Bohai Bay was mainly caused by the accelera-
tion of human activities in the Bohai Economic Ring after the policy of
reform and opening-up since 1978. Fig. 9(a) shows that wastewater
from industrial source was unchanged in general. However, the waste-
water from urban residential source showed an increasing trend with
time. Wastewater discharge as well as intensied agricultural activities
in the Haihe River basin clearly contributed to the eutrophication of
the bay (Zhang et al., 2015). As Tianjin was a fast-growing megacity,
a large supply of fresh vegetables was needed and their output would
increase obviously as shown in Fig. 9(b). In order to ensure sufcient
vegetables production, chemical fertilizers were employed. The
overuse of chemical fertilizers caused the increased nutrient runoff
(Ye, 1991).

5. Conclusion

The temporal variation of sedimentation rates over the last 100 years
in Bohai Bay was determined using the CRS model of 210Pb method. The
results indicated that the sedimentation rates before 1980 were rela-
tively stable, ranging from 0.26 0.04 g/(cm2 y) in 1920 to
Fig. 7. Change of reclamation areas along the coastline of Bohai Bay in different periods. 0.39 0.08 g/(cm2y) in 1980. As a coastal area, the effect of river
discharge on the sedimentation rate was main inuencing factor,
because the rivers carried large quantities of riverine sediments
from the main rivers around the western coastline of Bohai Bay.
5 After 1980, the sedimentation rate in Bohai Bay did not decrease
serious with the decreased river discharge and tended to increase after
eutrophication 1980. The main cause for such variation was probably the increasing
4 coastal reclamation. In addition, the eutrophication may be an
Eutrophication index

additional factor inuencing sedimentation rates. Eutrophication

3 can produce organic matters, which was composed of numerous
functional groups and acted as occulants or combined with
eutrophication inorganic particulates.
2

1 Acknowledgements

non-eutrophication This work was nancially supported by National Natural Science

0
Foundation of China (41273068); Tianjin Research Program of Applied
Science and Advanced Technology (11JCZDJC24100) and the EU-funded
1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 Environmental Sustainability Program (Contract No. DCI-ASIE/2013/
323-550, EuropeAid/133-582/L/ACT/CN).
Fig. 8. Eutrophication index of Bohai Bay (data from National Bureau of Oceanography of
China).

1000 10
Domestic sewage
Wastewater discharged volume (10 tons)

900 Industrial wastewater Eggs

Total discharged volume Meat
6

800 8
Vegetable
700 Oil-bearing Crops
Cotton
Output (10 tons)

600 6 Grain
6

500
4
400

300
2
200

100
0
1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

Fig. 9. Wastewater discharged volume (a) and main agricultural products (b) of Tianjin in different years (data from China Statistical Yearbook).
76 Y. Zhang et al. / Science of the Total Environment 572 (2016) 6876
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