Sedimentation and lateral transport of 210Pb over the East China Sea Shelf

210Pb is an effective tracer of constraining particle transport and sedimentation in shelf regions. To reveal the spatial pattern of 210Pb over the East China Sea (i.e. ECS) Shelf, 210Pb in the surface sediments were examined at 11 stations, as well as 234Th and 210Pb in the water column at four stations. Overall, the plume zone of the Yangtze River along the coastline is a source area of 210Pb for the outer shelf, exporting 0.46 dpm cm−2 year−1 at least, which accounts for about 25 % of 210Pb input into this region. In the southern ECS Shelf to the north of the Taiwan Strait, the focusing factor (f) values are higher than unity, indicating a sink area of 210Pb. Boundary scavenging of 210Pb contributes 0.36 dpm cm−2 year−1 to this sink area on the basis of a mass balance model evaluation. Lateral transport of 210Pb to this region, quantified by 234Th and 210Pb in the water column, varied from 3.34 to 6.39 dpm cm−2 year−1 with an average of 4.83 dpm cm−2 year−1, also supporting its sink characteristic. To the southwest of the Cheju Island, the f values were less than unity, revealing a source region of 210Pb. The average export flux of 210Pb from this region was 1.64 dpm cm−2 year−1. Therefore, 210Pb sedimentation/settling showed significantly heterogeneous sedimentation of particulate matter over the ECS Shelf.