Major sources of sinking particulate organic matter in the western Bay of Bengal

Abstract

Impacts of river discharge on coastal ocean processes are multi-dimensional. Studies on sinking particle fluxes, composition and their seasonal variability in coastal oceans are very limited. In this study, we investigated the impact of river discharge on seasonal variability in sinking fluxes of total mass, biogenic and lithogenic material in a river-dominated continental margin, western coastal Bay of Bengal. Higher POC, lithogenic and total mass fluxes were found during early southwest monsoon, and are decoupled with peak river discharge and elevated primary production. It is attributed to cross-shelf transport of re-suspended surface sediments from shelf region. Peak river discharge followed by elevated chlorophyll-a suggest nutrients supply though river discharge support primary production. Elemental C:N ratios, ?13C and ?15N results likely suggest that both marine and terrestrial sources contributed to sinking POM,. Overall, higher sinking fluxes during southwest monsoon than rest of the year suggest that seasonal river discharge exerts considerable impact on sinking fluxes in the western coastal Bay of Bengal.