Study on the Marine Sedimentary Environment Evolution of the Southern Laizhou Bay Under the Impact of Port Projects

摘要

The southern Laizhou Bay is mainly composed of silt-sandy coasts with diverse landforms, and its marine hydrodynamic environment is sensitive to human activities. Marine hydrodynamic and sedimentary environments of the study area have changed under the influence of large-scale port projects in recent years. In this paper, the evolution of hydrodynamic environment, deposition rate, and geochemical characteristics were studied based on sediment grain size, element analysis and ^(210)Pb dating of two cores, in order to analyze the influence of Weifang Port on marine environmental evolution, and provide theoretical and practical basis for protecting marine environment in developing marine resources reasonably. Results showed that sediments of the two cores were relatively coarser and mainly composed of silty sand. Sediments above 230 cm in core WF1 and 218 cm in core WF2 were deposited since 1855 when the Yellow River appeared to deposit its sediments within the modern active delta, and the average deposition rate was between 0.3 and 0.5 cm a^(-1). Implement of Weifang Port projects in 1997 and 2007 created great influence on the sedimentary environment evolution in the surrounding waters, and the deposition rate was significantly increased. The average annual deposition rates were 5.1 cm and 3.5 cm in WF1 and WF2 respectively between 1997 and 2007. Content of heavy metals in sediments showed no obvious change in the vertical, indicating that the heavy metals were less affected by human activity and there was no significant accumulation of such metals in the study area.