Biogeochemical characteristics of sedimenting particles in Dona Paula Bay, India

Sedimenting particles were collected at weekly intervals from October to May during 1995–1997 at a station in the coastal waters of Dona Paula Bay on the west coast of India. Sedimenting particles were analysed for concentration and composition of total sedimented particulate matter (TPM), biogenic silica (BSi) and total neutral carbohydrates (TCHO). TPM, BSi and TCHO fluxes showed seasonal and annual variations. Fluxes of BSi showed significant correlations with the fluxes of TCHO and fucose indicating that at the study site diatoms were associated with the production of carbohydrates. However, a high content of arabinose plus xylose ( 56% of TCHO without glucose) in some samples and their negative correlations with fucose may suggest terrestrial inputs. Sedimenting particles depleted in glucose content were enriched in rhamnose, fucose, xylose, mannose and galactose. A principal component analysis based on log-normalized wt% of monosaccharides established three factors that contributed 78% of total variance. The first factor was mostly controlled by the abundance of arabinose and xylose while the second and third factors were dependent on fucose, galactose, mannose and rhamnose. Carbohydrate composition data suggest that the nature and sources of organic matter at the study site varied over the period of study.