A Preliminary Study on the Determination of Biogenic Silica in Inner Bay Sediments and Its Application inXiamen Western Waters

Biogenic Silica (BSi) is mainly produced by diatom,radiolarian,and sponge.Spatial and temporal variations of BSi accumulation have been regarded as important proxys of paleoproductivity and paleoclimate reconstructions.It can also be a good index of primary productivity and nutrient status in inner bay surface waters.In this paper,we developed an appropriate method,to determine the BSi in the sediment samples of Xiamen Western Waters,and demonstrate how to use these BSi content data and their vertical fluctuation curve and horizontal distribution to deduce the surface productivity and evolvement of environment parameters in this area.