WAMSI 2 - Kimberley Node: Project 2.2.9 Historical reconstructions of water quality in the Kimberley using sediment records

The remote Kimberley coast of north-western Australia is one of the few marine environments domains on earth largely unaffected by human use. However, the region is undergoing increasing economic importance as a destination for tourism and significant coastal developments associated with oil and gas exploration. The objective of the project was to reconstruct a timeline of inferred water quality changes from the sediment record for a selected set of sites in the Kimberley, Western Australia. The project made use of palaeoecological approaches to reconstruct a chronology of change over the last approximately 100 years using a series of biogeochemical proxies for 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, 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 influence.Sediment cores (up to 1.5 m) were obtained from each of these locations in the expectation that they would provide a time series for about the last 100 years. A set of parameters was measured along the core length (every 1-2 cm) for some or all cores depending on the particular focus for the location: 210Pb and 137Cs; 15N isotope; 13C isotope; Carbon/Nitrogen ratio; Sedimentation rate and grain size; Total Organic Carbon (TOC) and Total Nitrogen (TN); Biosilicate; Biomarkers; TEX86; long chain n-alkanes (C27+C29+C31); Elemental carbon (or black carbon). Rainfall data was obtained from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology website (www.bom.gov.au). Stream flow data was obtained from the Western Australian Department of Water website (www.water.wa.gov.au). Historical bushfire data was obtained from the Western Australian Department of Parks and Wildlife.The metadata record only relates to data generated as part of the sediment analysis.

澳大利亚西北部偏远的金伯利海岸是全球少数基本未受人类活动干扰的海洋环境区域之一。当前该区域的经济重要性与日俱增，不仅成为热门旅游目的地，还伴随了与油气勘探相关的大型沿海开发项目。本项目的目标是基于沉积物记录，重建西澳大利亚州金伯利地区选定采样点的推测水质变化时间序列。项目采用古生态学研究方法，依托一系列覆盖浮游植物组成与生物量、温度及陆地影响因子的生物地球化学代用指标，重建了过去约100年的环境变化时序。研究尽可能将上述代用指标记录与历史土地/水资源利用、气象或水文观测资料进行匹配。项目对三处沿海点位的沉积物岩芯进行了分析，分别为库拉马湾（乔治国王河）、天鹅湾与布鲁姆湾。每个采样点位均可提供对照条件，用于评估人类或自然影响下的空间或时间梯度变化。
研究人员从上述所有点位采集了沉积物岩芯（最长可达1.5米），预期可获取过去约100年的环境时间序列数据。依据各点位的研究重点，沿岩芯长度方向以每1-2厘米的间隔，对部分或全部岩芯测定了以下系列参数：²¹⁰Pb与¹³⁷Cs；¹⁵N同位素；¹³C同位素；碳/氮比值；沉积速率与粒度；总有机碳（Total Organic Carbon, TOC）与总氮（Total Nitrogen, TN）；生物硅；生物标志物；TEX86；长链正构烷烃（C27+C29+C31）；元素碳（又称黑碳）。
降雨数据源自澳大利亚气象局官网（www.bom.gov.au）；径流数据源自西澳大利亚州水务部官网（www.water.wa.gov.au）；历史山火数据源自西澳大利亚州公园与野生动物管理局。
本元数据记录仅涵盖沉积物分析环节所生成的相关数据。