INTERANNUAL VARIABILITY IN PARTICLE-FLUX IN THE SOUTHWESTERN BLACK-SEA

Vertical particle flux was measured at two sites in the southwestern Black Sea using automated time-series sediment traps over a period of 4.5 years. The particle flux between both sites varied considerably. (1) At site BSC (80 km from shore) the dominant fraction of the annual flux was deposited during short blooms; at site BS (40 km from shore, but still beyond the shelf break), the particle flux was less dominated by short-term blooms. (2) At site BSC, plankton blooms were the dominant cause for removal of suspended lithogenic matter; at site BS, vertical transport of lithogenic matter was linked also to the occurrence of storms and to high discharge periods of local rivers. Upwelling in the southwestern Black Sea may play an important role in triggering plankton blooms. © 1990.