Seasonal variation of water column structure and sediment transport in a mud depo-center off the Zhejiang-Fujian coast in China

Two surveys were conducted in December, 2008, and August, 2009, in the mud depo-center off the Zhejiang-Fujian coast (MDZFC) in the inner shelf of East China Sea to depict the seasonal variation of the water column structure and analyze the factors responsible for the variation. The results were also used to discuss the sediment transport process and formation mechanism of the MDZFC. The water column structures varied significantly between the two surveys, with respect to the temperature, salinity, and turbidity. The summer water body, with relatively high temperatures and salinities, was evidently stratified with respect to the temperature, whereas the salinity remained constant throughout the water column. The stratification restricts sediment resuspension and transport. From the north to the south, the temperature in the middle-bottom water layer slightly increased, whereas the salinity remained mostly constant. In winter, the water body, with relatively low temperatures and salinities, was well mixed vertically. The temperature and salinity both increased from the surface to the bottom toward the east (deep water) and the south. A wedge-shaped water mass, which appears as a coastal upwelling, with relatively low temperature and high salinity in summer and relatively high temperature and high salinity in winter, spread landward along the sea floor, from the sea deeper than 50 m, whereas the extension was relatively stronger in winter. The water turbidity in winter was clearly higher than in summer. In the surface layer, the turbidity was generally greater than 5 FTU in winter and less than 1 FTU in summer. In the bottom layer, the turbidity was much greater than 200 FTU in winter and slightly greater than 50 FTU in summer. Moreover, the turbid water layer close to the sea floor in winter can reach into an area deeper than 50 m with a thickness of over 10 m; however, it was only limited to only 30-m-deep water with a thickness of 5 m in summer. The differences of marine sedimentary environment in the MDZFC were attributed to the seasonal variations of hydrodynamics environment, weather conditions, sediment supplies, and seasonal circulations. The results suggest that winter is the key season for particle transportation and deposition. The bottom turbid layer is the primarily channel of sediment transport, and the upwelling currents and the oceanic front systems play an important role in the sediment deposit processes and the formation of the MDZFC.