Author Identifier

Pere Masque

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1789-320X

Document Type

Report

Publisher

Western Australian Marine Science Institution

School

Centre for Marine Ecosystems Research

Comments

Keesing, J., Liu, D., Yuan, Z., Peng, Y., Wang, Y., Richard, P., ... & Fang, Y. (2017). Historical reconstructions of water quality in the Kimberley using sediment records. Report of 2.2. 9 prepared for the Kimberley Marine Research Program, Western Australian Marine Science Institution, Perth, Western Australia, 91 pp.

https://wamsi.org.au/project/sediments/

Abstract

This project made use of a suite of palaeoecological approaches to reconstruct a chronology of change in coastal water quality over the last approximately 100 years. The biogeochemical proxies addressed phytoplankton composition and biomass, temperature and terrestrial influences. Where possible these were matched to historical land/water use, meteorological or hydrological observational records.

The project examined sediment cores from three coastal locations in the Kimberley region, Koolama Bay (King George River), Cygnet Bay and Roebuck Bay. Each sampling location provided a contrast with which to evaluate changes over either a spatial or temporal gradient of human or natural influences.

Aims

  • Reconstruct a timeline of inferred water quality changes from the sediment record for a selected set of sites in the Kimberley.
  • Use the results to determine the level of variability and change in water quality over the last 100 years and provide a baseline against which future changes can be assessed.

Methods

  • Sediment cores to 1.5 metres were collected from three sites.
  • Cores were tested for a set of parameters ever 1-2 cm, incling 210 Pb, 15N, 13C, C/N ratio, sedimentation rate, grain size, total organic carbon and nitrogen, phytoplankton biomass and type (diatom skeletons and dinoflagellate cysts and biochemical markers (brassicasterol and dinosterol).

Outcomes

  • An understanding of the historical and baseline environmental conditions ahead of these impacts.
  • Established baseline and historical water quality in the Kimberley information ahead of major local impacts and will help enable interpretation of the changes that may have occurred in recent years from climate change.

Related Datasets

Keesing, J., Liu, D., Yuan, Z., Peng, Y., Wang, Y., Richard, P., Masque´, P., Che, Y., & Fang, Y. (2019). WAMSI 2 - KMRP [Kimberley Marine Research Program] Project 2.2.9: Historical water quality using sediment records. CSIRO. http://dx.doi.org/10.4225/08/5a52c88e56d2c

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

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