Dynamics of sinking particles in northern Japan trench in the western North Pacific: biogenic chemical components and fatty acids biomarkers

Biogenic opal was predominant component, and had strongly positive correlation with organic carbon in both traps. The average atomic ratios of biogenic opal and calcium carbonate (CaCO3) were also large (7.1 and 11 in the shallow and deep trap, respectively) and the highest ratio was found in May 1995, when the biogenic opal proportion (%) to the total particle flux and Corg/Cinorg ratio increased concomitantly. However, transient switching of the biogenic opal and CaCO3 ratios (0.6 and 0.8) was observed in winter 1995, which seems to be related to a warm-core ring developed in the northwestern Pacific. rd fluxes of fatty acids as molecular markers were determined and compared with major biogenic chemical components in sinking particles. As a diatom index of fatty acids, the 16:1(n-7)/16:0 ratio is positively related to biogenic opal contribution (%) to the sinking particles in the shallow and deep traps. 20:5(n-3) proportion (%) was also correlated with opal content (%) in sinking particles in the 1-km trap. In addition, a major source of sinking fatty acids in the western North Pacific might be characterized by algal fatty acids as a diatom marker (16:1(n-7)), comparing to a zooplankton fatty acid (18:1(n-9)) in the central North Pacific and fecal pellets and coccolithophores in the eastern North Pacific, respectively. Also, PUFA index (a measure of polyunsaturated fatty acids contribution to the total fatty acids) correlated well with Chl a inventory in surface 0–50 m water. These results suggest that undegraded diatomaceous fatty acids are present in sinking particles, and the composition of fatty acids is useful to understand the origin of sinking organic particles.