active moribund and buried tidal sand ridges in the east china sea and the southern yellow sea shallow seismic profiles and borehole data revealed active moribund and buried tidal sand ridges in the east china sea and the southern yellow sea the ridges consist of relatively clean well sorted sands with fairly uniform sequences the microfossil assemblage exhibits a high diversity including both euryhaline and stenohaline species the ridges are huge elongated sand bodies several kilometres wide 10 60 km long and up to 20 m thick and occur in groups with a spacing of several to 10 km normally they are parallel with each other extending in the direction of the tidal currents the field of tidal sand ridges on the east china sea shelf covers an area of 57 000 km2 tidal sand ridges in the east china sea and the southern yellow sea were formed in estuarine and shallow shelf environments where strong tidal currents reworked transported and redeposited large amounts of relict sands from older deltaic and fluvial sediments the development of tidal sand ridges in estuary mouth areas is accompanied by a net sand transport from the shelf into the estuary the evolution of tidal sand ridges is closely related to transgressions active tidal sand ridges are formed during sea level rises they show distinct morphology and active migrations in a lateral as well as in a landward direction they are generally in equilibrium with present day tidal processes and their distribution patterns are related to the flow field of the tidal currents as the sea level rises further these tidal sand ridges become moribund sand bodies with less distinct morphologies their upper surfaces are covered by a thin calcareous rich layer with very high contents of foraminifera tests reflecting a submarine hiatus condition on the shelf during the highstand period during the subsequent steady fall in sea level tidal sand ridges are often buried by fine grained shelf and prodelta sediments they have therefore a good chance of being preserved in stratigraphic records the sequential buildup during a sea level rise tr tract and a subsequent sea level fall hs and ls tract would consist of estuarine channel and tidal flat facies tidal sand ridge facies shelf mud facies delta facies and fluvial facies in an ascending order tidally dominated estuary conditions may also occur when a major distributary is abandoned such as at the northern branch of the modern changjiang river mouth where the accumulation of sand from an abandoned delta lobe and the development of tidal sand ridges have been observed the observed features have important implications for the subsurface recognition of fossil tidal sand ridges for the reconstruction of the regional palaeogeography and transgressional history and for the prediction of potential reservoir sandstones

recent sediment accumulation and origin of shelf mud deposits in the yellow and east china seas abstract modern last 100 yr accumulation rates of shelf mud deposits in the yellow and east china seas were investigated using the distribution of excess 210pb 210pbex in sediment core samples compilation and merger of new and previously published data helped clarify sediment accumulation in these seas the estimated accumulation rates together with data of suspended sediment concentrations provided findings on the sediment budget origin and transport pathway of the mud deposits the overall accumulation distribution in the yellow and east china sea shelf revealed a general cross shelf decreasing trend along the sediment dispersal system away from the rivers except for the south sea ssm and southeastern yellow sea seysm mud patches found along the korean coast notably 210pbex activity profiles within the ssm and the seysm yielded a relatively high accumulation rate of 2 5 mm yr implying a sedimentation rate of 4 15 107 tons per year in this coastal zone such an annual accumulation rate is about one order of magnitude greater than the total sediment discharge 6 20 106 tons yr from korean rivers suggesting an additional offshore source the distribution pattern of the well defined suspended plume clearly showed the possible transport and exchange of fine grained sediments between the ecs shelf and the coastal area of korea especially during winter such a high accumulation in korean coastal areas is attributable to the sediments supplied from the mud deposit of the ecs i e swcim with origins in chinese rivers therefore the korean coastal area may be an important sink for some of chinese river sediments being transported from the south by the yellow sea warm current

sources and radiocarbon ages of organic carbon in different grain size fractions of yellow river transported particles and coastal sediments abstract the elemental toc tn and c n and carbon isotope 14c and 13c compositions of organic matter were measured in different grain size fractions of particles transported by the yellow river and surface sediments in the bohai sea and the yellow sea in the riverine particle and sediment samples high oc contents were associated with small grain size fractions consisting mainly of clay minerals the 13c and 14c values of the bulk riverine particulate organic carbon poc collected from the lijin and xiaolangdi sites were relatively constant but varied significantly 21 9 to 26 0 and 325 to 620 respectively among the different size fractions in comparison large spatial variations in 13c 20 6 to 24 5 and 14c 188 to 646 values which increased seaward due to the difference in source carbon were found for bulk toc 14c preserved in the surface sediments but no significant differences were observed among the values in the different size fractions in most sediments the different carbon isotopic values of the riverine poc and sedimentary toc reflect differences in the sources degradation and cycling time scales of the oc the yellow river exports very old 5220 295 yrs poc that is much older than the toc 2457 676 yrs preserved in the surface sediments in the bohai and yellow seas calculations using a dual isotope three end member model indicate that pre aged soil oc and ancient fossil oc represent major proportions 57 16 and 30 8 respectively of the riverine poc and that terrestrial biomass oc represents a minor proportion 13 11 the drainage environment of the river plays important roles in controlling the sources and ages of the riverine poc in contrast the toc in the grain size fractions of the surface sediments in the bohai and yellow seas is dominated by marine derived modern oc 47 13 followed by pre aged soil oc 29 9 and ancient fossil oc 25 14 the ages of the toc are determined mainly by the source input rapid sedimentation sediment minerology and decomposition of oc during early diagenesis in these large river influenced marginal seas

magnetic properties of muddy sediments on the northeastern continental shelves of china implication for provenance and transportation mud deposits are widespread in estuaries and on continental shelves and contain important information regarding interactions between terrestrial and coastal processes magnetic properties of muddy sediments from the northeastern continental shelves of china including shelves close to korean coasts were analyzed using bulk and size fractionated samples to elucidate muddy sediment sources and transport types concentration and granulometry of magnetic minerals were determined and all samples were found to be dominated by magnetite muddy sediments from the zhemin coast off the zhejiang and fujian coasts have the highest magnetic susceptibility and saturation isothermal remanent magnetization sirm values while those from the central and southeastern south yellow sea and the western korea strait have lower values reflecting lower magnetic mineral concentrations single domain ferrimagnetic grains dominate the magnetic particles in the central south yellow sea while superparamagnetic sp grains contribute significantly to the magnetic grains in the bohai sea sp and coarse multi domain md grains dominate magnetic grain assemblages in the north yellow sea and along the zhemin coast rock sediment particle size is not a major factor affecting the magnetic properties of the mud deposits in the study area rather terrigenous inputs and hydrodynamic transport processes primarily control the magnetic properties and sediments from the changjiang and huanghe rivers make the most significant contribution this observation applies to the whole study area although terrigeneous magnetic mineral concentrations decrease with increasing distance from the river mouths due to both sorting and mixing with other sediments with weak magnetic signatures bacterial magnetosomes also play a role in the central south yellow sea

detrital sediment supply in the southern okinawa trough and its relation to sea level and kuroshio dynamics during the late quaternary abstract during leg 195 of the ocean drilling program site 1202 was drilled in the subtropical northwestern pacific ocean beneath the kuroshio black current between northern taiwan and the ryukyu island arc on the northern flank of the i lan ridge at 1274 m water depth the upper 110 m of the site 1202 section composed of dark grey calcareous silty clay provide an expanded record of environmental changes during the last 28 kyr the sediments were deposited at high sedimentation rates between 3 0 and 5 0 m kyr and peak values of 9 0 m kyr between 15 1 and 11 2 ka bp variations in the modes and sources of detrital sediment input as inferred from sediment granulometry mineralogy and elemental xrf scanner data reflect changes in environmental boundary conditions related to sea level changes kuroshio variability and the climate driven modes of fluvial runoff the provenance data point to increased sediment supply from northwestern taiwan between 28 and 19 5 ka bp and from east china sources between 19 5 and 11 2 ka bp the change in provenance at 19 5 ka bp reflects increased fluvial runoff from the yangtze river and strong sediment reworking from the east china sea shelf in the course of increased humidity and postglacial sea level rise particularly after 15 1 ka bp the holocene was dominated by sediments that originated from rivers in northeastern taiwan for the pre holocene period prior to 11 2 ka bp low portions of sortable silt 63 10 m show that the kuroshio did not enter the okinawa trough because of low sea level in turn high proportions of sortable silt and sediment provenance from northeastern taiwan point to strong ocean circulation under the direct and persistent influence of the kuroshio during the holocene the reentrance of the kuroshio to the okinawa trough was heralded by two pulses in relative current strengthening at 11 2 and 9 5 ka bp as documented by stepwise increases in sortable silt in the lower holocene section from a global perspective environmental changes in the southern okinawa trough show affinities to climate change in the western pacific warm pool with little influence of climate teleconnections from the north atlantic realm otherwise seen in many other marine and terrestrial palaeoclimate records from southeastern asia

sediment transport in the yellow sea and east china sea abstract eight survey cruises in different seasons have been conducted in the yellow sea ys and east china sea ecs during the period from 2000 to 2008 suspended sediment concentration ssc and hydrological data were collected during each cruise data analysis showed that total suspended sediment mass was approximately 0 18 109 tons in the surveyed area during spring and autumn seasons highly turbid waters were found in the shallow waters between the subei coast the changjiang estuary and the zhejiang coast with seasonal variations the investigation provided convincing evidence that suspended sediments were transported from the subei coast and the southern entrance of the yellow sea trough to the central ys muddy patches were found at the sea bed when tidal currents were too weak to erode the bottom sediments and water column stratification and eddies provided favorable conditions for trapping the fine grained suspended sediments the investigation indicated that the different front may have different effect on sediment transport during different seasons the front between the yellow sea cold water and the coastal water in the subei coast appeared to trap the high ssc sediments on the shallow water side of the front during summer the front along the zhejiang coast seemed to prevent suspended sediments from transport across the front due to circulation in the front zone and upwelling along the zhejiang coast during winter sediments were likely transported across the front to the central continental shelf of the ecs with the help of the downwelling and lateral ekman transport driven by monsoon winds

magnetostratigraphy of a long quaternary sediment core in the south yellow sea abstract continental shelves serve as a bridge between the continent and ocean and sediments in this region are sensitive to land sea interaction sea level variation and local subsidence in this study we present a comprehensive magnetic study of the longest sediment core csdp 1 300 1 m recovered from the south yellow sea the major magnetic minerals in the studied sediments are magnetite hematite and greigite greigite records a chemical remanent magnetization which can be removed effectively by thermal demagnetization the magnetostratigraphy defined in this study contains the matuyama brunhes boundary m b 781 ka at 73 68 m which is consistent with results from adjacent cores the base of the quaternary 2 6 ma in the yellow sea is recovered for the first time at a depth of 227 16 m the basal age of the core is estimated to be 3 50 ma it indicates that the first transgression of the yellow sea occurred no later than 1 7 ma succeeding large amplitude regressions occurred in some cold periods such as during mis 20 mis 18 and mis 10 our results provide the first chronology that brackets the entire quaternary and we reconstruct the sedimentary evolution of the yellow sea with robust age constraints which provides an important framework for further paleoenvironmental and tectonic studies

drainage basin weathering and major element transport of two large chinese rivers huanghe and changjiang long term records show high concentrations of dissolved major elements in the changjiang yangtze river and the huanghe yellow river the huanghe drainage basin is characterized by intense weathering and erosion of carbonates and evaporites while weathering and erosion of carbonates and silicates over the drainage basin is the main source of major elements in the changjiang the rock soil composition and tectonics of the drainage basin are more important than atmospheric precipitation in affecting major element composition of these two rivers compared with other large rivers of the world the high suspended sediment and major element loads of the changjiang and huanghe reveal intense physical and chemical erosion over the chinese continent

man s influence on the erosion and transport of sediment by asian rivers the yellow river huanghe example during the holocene sediment input from the yellow river to the yellow sea and adjacent areas has amounted to about 3000 km 3 detailed records from river gauging stations over the past 70 yrs together with estimates based on earlier historic records suggest that the river has contributed 2300 km 3 of sediment during the last 2300 yrs an average discharge of 1 km 3 yr 1 x 10 9 t yr prior to extensive agricultural use of the loess plateau in northern china beginning about 200 bc therefore the river s load must have been about 0 1 km 3 yr an order of magnitude lower than that at present a broad delta 20 m below sea level suggests that early holocene rates were higher than the pre agricultural average and therefore that middle holocene loads were low

hydrodynamic condition and suspended sediment diffusion in the yellow sea and east china sea based on monthly averaged current temperature and salinity we analyzed the changes of suspended sediment concentration ssc and the relationship with the warm current coastal current and cold water mass cwm in the east china seas ecss the result shows that the coastal current and surface diluted water are the route for transporting suspended sediment the kuroshio and its derived warm current branches play the important role of the continental shelf circulation system and control the diffusion of suspended sediment high ssc has been mainly concentrated in coastal current and cwm two sedimentary dynamic patterns have been identified the winter half year pattern lasts almost 7 months the coastal currents off the shandong peninsula northern jiangsu zhejiang fujian coast are the main routes for diffusion and deposition of the suspended sediment from the yellow river and changjiang river the summer half year pattern is characterized by the well developed cwm all cwms have a unique function to trap suspended sediment under the thermocline due to weakening tidal current and residual current there these cwms in the yellow sea ys and north ecs are connected together the layer above the thermocline is characterized by diluted water with low salinity high temperature suspended sediment can be transported into the okinawa trough and the south korea coast during this period a strong eddy always occur nearby the kuroshio bend at northeast taiwan which has promoted the exchange between the ecs shelf and okinawa trough and the development of the shelf edge current and taiwan warm current twc

elemental and sr nd isotopic compositional disparity of riverine sediments around the yellow sea constraints from grain size and chemical partitioning to obtain a better understanding of the source compositions of the river sediments around the yellow sea and their relationship with source rocks elements and strontium neodymium sr nd isotopes of different grain sizes silt and clay populations and chemical labile and residual phases fractionations in riverine sediments were studied extensively these results clearly revealed a systematic compositional disparity between korean river kr and chinese river cr sediments especially in the residual detrital fraction the geochemical dissimilarity between these might reflect inherited signatures of their source rocks but with minor control from chemical weathering in particular the remarkable enrichment of some elements iron fe and magnesium mg and the behavior of large ion lithophile elements e g barium ba potassium k and sr during weathering as well as less radiogenic sr isotopic compositions implies that cr sediments might be weathering products of relatively more mafic rocks with abundant ferromagnesian and plagioclase feldspar minerals compared with kr sediments derived from silicic granites with relatively higher quartz and potassium feldspar contents this different petrological rationale is clearly evident in an a cn k diagram which estimated the source rock of cr sediments as granodioritic a composition that reflects accurately the average composition of weathered continental crust in china the recognition of such geochemical systematics in two river sediments especially in grain size and chemically partitioned data may contribute to the establishment of provenance tracers for the yellow sea and east china sea sediments with multi sources as well the dust deposition in the western pacific c 2015 elsevier ltd all rights reserved

late holocene high frequency east asia winter monsoon variability inferred from the environmentally sensitive grain size component in the distal shelf mud area east china sea the b2 b2g and i4 sediment cores recovered from the centre of the distal mud area of the east china sea ecs were analysed for grain size distribution proxies for environmentally sensitive grai

a review on the provenance discrimination of sediments in the yellow sea the yellow sea has been extensively studied for the understanding of dispersal patterns and limits of sediments from neighboring countries including china and korea although sedimentological mineralogical and geochemical approaches have been tried to solve the problems especially including the identification of sediment sources in and around the yellow sea the published results are not enough for understanding them suggestions on sediment origins budgets sediment accumulation rates mineralogical and geochemical compositions are not coincident to each other and sometimes even controversial for example conflicts on the distribution patterns of smectite and calcium carbonate the provenance of the southeastern yellow sea mud and sedimentation rates in there the ratios of v al and mn al in korea and china river sediments the origin of ba and pb in sandy sediments of the northeastern yellow sea and so on various geochemical indicators from the literature for the provenance discrimination in the yellow sea are reviewed here in depth and corresponding discussions are described separately research topics for the future study also are suggested for the proper access to the understanding of the origin and dispersal patterns of the yellow sea sediments especially focusing on the geochemical approaches d 2003 elsevier science b v all rights reserved

clay sized sediment provenance change in the northern okinawa trough since 22kyrbp and its paleoenvironmental implication provenances of clay sized terrigenous sediments and a comprehensive interpretation of their high resolution variations in the northern okinawa trough since the late last glaciation remain unclear especially in regard to the huanghe and taiwan derived matter grain size clay mineralogy typical elemental ratio oxygen isotope and ams c 14 dating of core pc 1 in the northern okinawa trough were investigated to trace clay sized sediment provenance and transport process and thus to recover their forcing mechanisms over the last 22 kyr variations in linear sedimentation rate grain size delta o 18 ti ca ratio and clay minerals can be clearly divided into three distinct intervals consistent with changes in sediment provenance that can be close related to sea level fluctuation evolution of the tsushima warm current as well as influence from the east asian monsoon climate evolution during the late last glaciation period interval 1 22 16 kyr bp when the tsushima warm current was absent in the east china sea the paleo huanghe mouth was situated close to the study area and thus the paleo huanghe could have played major role in sedimentation therein in interval 2 16 7 3 kyr bp global sea level rise led to gradually retreating of the paleo huanghe mouth and thus decreasing terrigenous sediment supply from it to the study area since 73 kyr bp interval 3 some clay minerals from taiwan might have been transported northward to the study area by the fully evolved tsushima warm current characterized by higher chlorite kaolinite ratios in contrast the decreasing influence of the huanghe derived sediments during the strengthening of the tsushima warm current periods was probably caused by the blocking effect of the tsushima warm current particularly chlorite kaolinite ratio and smectite content in the okinawa trough sediment might be good proxies for indicating the tsushima warm current related sedimentary environment c 2014 elsevier b v all rights reserved

geochemistry of river borne clays entering the east china sea indicates two contrasting types of weathering and sediment transport processes the east china sea is characterized by wide continental shelf receiving a huge input of terrigenous matter from both large rivers and mountainous rivers which makes it an ideal natural laboratory for studying sediment source to sink transport processes this paper presents mineralogical and geochemical data of the clays and bulk sediments from the rivers entering the east china sea aiming to investigate the general driving mechanism of silicate weathering and sediment transport processes in east asian continental margin two types of river systems tectonically stable continental rivers and tectonically active mountainous rivers coexist in east asia as the direct weathering products clays can better reflect the silicate weathering regimes within the two river systems provenance rock types are not the dominant factor causing silicate weathering intensity difference existed in the east asian rivers the silicate weathering intensity of tectonically stable river basins is primarily driven by monsoon climate and the sediment transfer is relatively slow because of natural trapping process and increasing damming effect the geochemistry of these river borne sediments can thus indicate paleo weathering intensities in east asian continent in contrast silicate weathering intensity in tectonically active mountainous rivers is greatly limited by strong physical erosion despite the high temperature and highest monsoon rainfall the factors controlling silicate weathering in tectonically active catchments are complex and thus it should be prudent to use river sediment records to decipher paleoclimate change these two different silicate weathering regimes and sediment transport processes are manifestations of the landscape evolution and overall dominate the sedimentation in asian continental margin

world wide delivery of river sediment to the oceans new data and new estimates from old data show that rivers with large sediment loads annual discharges greater than about 15 times 10 6 tons contribute about 7 times 10 9 tons of suspended sediment to the ocean yearly extrapolating available data for all drainage basins the total suspended sediment delivered by all rivers to the oceans is about 13 5 times 10 9 tons annually bedload and flood discharges may account for an additional 1 2 times 10 9 tons about 70 of this total is derived from southern asia and the larger islands in the pacific and indian oceans where sediment yields are much greater than for other drainage basins

partitioning of transgressive deposits in the southeastern yellow sea a sequence stratigraphic interpretation abstract the last glacio eustatic sea level fluctuation in the southeastern part of the yellow sea formed a number of unconformity bounded sedimentary sequences these sequences comprise 1 regressive to transgressive incision fills unit c 2 transgressive sand ridges and swales unit b and 3 transgressive to highstand muds lower mud unit a2 upper mud unit a1 the sequence boundary between unit c and the lower unit comprises erosional surface which can be traced for the entire study area the even and sharp boundary between the incision fills unit c and the sand ridges unit b represents a transgressive surface of erosion the depositional boundary between the lower mud unit a2 and the upper mud unit a1 suggests a change in oceanographic conditions the boundary is confined landward and correlated offshore with the top of units b and c that is exposed on the seafloor these transgressive deposits show partitioning controlled by currents tides and sediment supply as well as physiography of the seafloor

tetraether lipids from the southern yellow sea of china implications for the variability of east asia winter monsoon in the holocene to better understand the origin and distribution of organic matter om in the yellow sea ys and to delineate potential interactions between the atmosphere and the marine system during the holocene we reconstructed terrestrial input and temperature variation for the last 8 8 ka bp using glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers gdgts obtained from a 4 4 m sediment core ysc 1 from the southern ys the archaea derived isoprenoid gdgts igdgts were dominated by gdgt 0 and crenarchaeol the igdgts and bacteria derived branched gdgts bgdgts correlated well and varied in opposition to the bit branched vs isoprenoid tetraether index this may be due to varying river runoff and influence of the ys coastal current yscc and ys warm current yswc related to the east asia winter monsoon eawm which made the bit proxy less suitable for tracing soil om input to the ys tex86 tetraether index of tetraethers consisting of 86 carbons derived sea surface temperature values sst varied from 9t o 16c close to the sst in the ys cold season the mbt cbt methylation of branched tetraethers and cyclization of branched tetraethers derived continental temperature ranged from 10 to 19 c indicating an annual mean air temperature for the middle and low drainage basin of the ys these two temperature records were decoupled but both correlated with the variation in the eawm suggesting an intimate link between eawm and temperature variation in east asia

testing provenance diagrams lessons from the well constrained cariaco basin abstract the fine grained sediments of the cariaco basin venezuela of the last 130 ky whose deposition history is well characterized were analyzed geochemically in order to test the validity of sediment bulk geochemistry as an indicator of detrital provenance several binary and ternary diagrams as well as the chemical index of alteration cia were tested for their capacity to discriminate the poorly contrasted detrital sources to the cariaco basin and to describe the temporal evolution of the contributions of these different sources most of the diagrams tested did not allow a good discrimination of sources or when sources were well discriminated did not allow an interpretation of the temporal variations consistent with the known history a relatively good discrimination of sources and a consistent interpretation of temporal variations were however obtained using hf vs th and la yb vs gd yb binary diagrams as well as ti zr th ti zr la and lu hf th ternary diagrams compared to the previous studies of the detrital content of the cariaco basin sediments the geochemical approach permitted the recognition of a sediment contribution eroded from the unare platform and gulf of cariaco during rapid sea level oscillations and the contribution of saharan eolian particles during the younger dryas preboreal and mis6 5 transition the choice of plotted elements was determined after considering carrier minerals so that different elements may be informative in different sedimentary contexts overall mineral sorting during transport appears as a major limit to quantitative estimation of the different contributions in particular mineral sorting leads to the selective enrichment of elements associated with clays al rb th and lree in sediments deposited in the basin unless the geochemical effect of mineral sorting can be measured it appears that quantitative provenance analysis should be performed on fractions of similar grain size instead of bulk sediment

grain size and geochemistry of surface sediments in northwestern continental shelf of the south china sea eighty six surface sediments collected from the northwestern continental shelf of the south china sea scs were analyzed for grain size distribution calcium carbonate organic carbon and major and trace element compositions to investigate sediment provenance and factors controlling their geochemical composition sediments from the eastern continental shelf of hainan island have higher sand and lower clay content while the samples from the nearshore hainan island have higher contents of gravel and clay calcium carbonate contents in samples show a positive correlation with water depth in northwestern shelf of scs suggesting that it is related to biological factors however the nearshore sediments have higher contents of organic carbon compared to those of the outer shelf possibly suggesting that the terrigenous organic matter usually deposited in nearshore environments such as bays and estuaries compared with the upper continental crust the samples have relatively lower contents of sio2 and al2o3 higher than those of the pearl and red river sediments the low contents of k2o and na2o in sediments from the northwestern continental shelf are consistent with intense chemical weathering in the river basin due to the seasonally hot and humid climate regime the sediments mainly consist of three components including the gravel fraction composed of calcareous debris the sand fraction composed of quartz and the silt and clay fractions mainly composed of clay minerals the content of each component depends on grain size sediment source biogenesis and hydrodynamic conditions which finally controls the chemical composition of the sediments the distributions of co al2o3 cr al2o3 and zr sc ratios for sediments in the northwestern continental shelf suggest that source rocks are mainly composed of felsic rocks rather than mafic rocks there is a distinct difference in sediment source between eastern and western shelf sediments the eastern shelf sediments are characterized by high zr sc ratios mainly derived from the pearl river while the western shelf sediments have relatively low values of zr sc indicating a main contribution possibly sourced from the red river basin terrigenous materials from hainan island usually influence the geochemistry of sediments deposited in the nearshore area

particulate element inventory of the huanghe yellow river a large high turbidity river abstract suspended sediments from the river mouth to the upper portions of the huanghe yellow river were collected and analysed to determine their chemical composition comparison with other large world rivers indicates that trace element levels are relatively low in this high turbidity river natural weathering and erosion are of primary importance in controlling particulate element concentrations although the impact from anthropogenic activities is also visible finally input of particulate elements to the china sea is assessed from the river sediment load and compositions

sedimentology of a subtidal tide dominated sand body in the yellow sea southwest korea abstract odanam satoe a subtidal tide dominated sand body in the yellow sea korea is linear in plan and asymmetrical in cross section it consists of fine to medium grained well sorted subangular sand bedforms consist of high amplitude 1 2 m sandwaves on the lower flanks of the gentler sloping bar surface and medium amplitude 0 5 1 m sandwaves on the sand body trough adjoining the steeper face the bar crest and shallower parts of the gently sloping bar surface bedforms are absent on the relatively steeper bar surface which is characterized by 2 slopes bedform orientation on the gentler slope is oblique by 30 to the bar crest parallel to the sand body crest on the crest itself and opposite to the steeper sand body face in the trough below the steeper slope of the bar bottom current velocity data show that tidal currents are semi rotary with a flood time velocity asymmetry over the gentler slope and ebb time velocity asymmetry over the steeper slope during most of the tidal cycle tidal current flow parallels bar elongation over the steeper slope whereas over the gentler slope tidal current flow is directed at 30 to the bar crest and changes to normal to the crest one hour prior to low tide bedform orientation mapped with side scan sonar shows agreement with these flow directions sand dispersal around the sand body is controlled by time velocity asymmetry and partial rotary flow directions of tidal currents this circulation causes not only a trapezoidal mode of grain dispersal but also westerly migration of the sand body documented from comparative bathymetric surveys in 1964 and 1980

detrital sediment fluxes from continents to oceans abstract detrital sediment is carried from land to the sea by three agents rivers glaciers and winds the shoreline is an arbitrary boundary within the detrital sediment transport system which extends from a site of origin across areas of temporary storage to a site of long term deposition the most important of the agents moving sediment across the land is river transport estimated to be in the order of 20 10 12 kg of sediment annually at present analysis of drainage basins indicates that relief and runoff are the most important factors in determining the sediment load of rivers the competence of rivers to transport sediment is governed by the volume flow gradient and the sediment load itself today most large rivers are fed by snowmelt in highland areas runoff from rainfall in the drainage basin and groundwater inflow along the river course water is lost to evaporation and groundwater infiltration river courses can often be divided into two segments a degradational section in which the gradient is relatively steep and little temporary storage of sediment takes place and an aggradational section where the gradient is sharply reduced through meandering and where large scale temporary sediment storage forms a flood plain lakes trap sediment inland and prevent its transport to the sea today many high and mid latitude rivers are interrupted by lakes of glacial origin there are also some large areas of internal drainage that deliver no sediment to the sea the load carried by rivers has been markedly altered by human activity and may have doubled over the past few thousand years only to be reduced in the past century by the widespread construction of dams the ancient use of fire in hunting and its subsequent use in clearing land has increased erosion extensive deforestation and cultivation processes have also increased the sediment supply dam construction is a relatively new factor and affects the sediment transport system by trapping sediment before it can reach the sea the resulting lower sediment supply from rivers is at least in part compensated by increased coastal erosion glacial erosion is difficult to estimate there is an ongoing controversy whether ice sheets are effective erosive agents or not estimates of the present global flux of glacial detritus range from 0 8 50 10 12 kg annually with the lower value most probable the dust flux is in the order of 0 5 to 0 9 10 12 kg annually but may vary greatly with time

sediment distribution dispersal and budget in the yellow sea abstract information on the surface sediment distribution in the yellow sea is newly compiled based on all available data produced by chinese and korean workers and is used to refine the dispersal patterns and budget of sediments derived from the adjoining landmass the central yellow sea is largely covered with fine grained sediments originating from the huanghe river 2 2 10 8 t yr about 20 of the total discharge thick sediment accumulation exceeding 5 mm yr occurs in the gulf of bohai and around the shandong peninsula about two thirds of the total huanghe river discharge the old huanghe delta suffers from reworking by strong tides and waves and forms a mud patch southwest of cheju island accumulation rate 2 10 7 t yr more than half of the sediments derived from the changjiang river are deposited along the coast of the east china sea the remainder accumulate on the inner shelf off the river mouth in the southeastern yellow sea the keum river dominates sediment discharge forming a holocene mud belt along the southwestern coast of korea accumulation rate 5 10 6 t yr turbid water plumes occur nearshore throughout the year and their suspended sediments are transported along the tip of the peninsula to the western coastal embayments in the south sea the nakdong river discharge of 1 10 7 t yr is responsible for the eastern nearshore mud of the south sea relict sands occur in the northern part of the yellow sea in the northern east china sea and in the korea strait

paleoenvironmental changes associated with the holocene marine transgression yellow sea hwanghae benthic foraminiferal and stable isotopic data from two radiocarbon dated cores from the yellow sea record paleoenvironmental changes largely associated with the holocene marine transgression the holocene marine transgression began significantly earlier 12 9 ka in the central part of the yellow sea as recorded in 278 cm long core cc 02 water depth 77 5 m compared with 7 9 ka in a tidal flat on west coast of korea as recorded in 350 cm long vibra core dh4 1 water depth 1 8 m the benthic foraminiferal assemblages in the lower part of cc 02 and the entire marine sequence of dh4 1 are dominated by assemblages characteristic of shallow 50 m waters ammonia ketienziensis ishizaki astrononion italicum cushman and edwards and hanzawaia nipponica asano after 7 5 ka in the central yellow sea much higher 18o 1 6 to 1 8 and 13c 0 1 to 0 7 values of a ketienziensis reflect a change to more open ocean higher salinity environments with deeper waters dominated by the hwanghae cold water as in the present day

distribution of suspended sediment in the korea strait and southeastern yellow sea onset of winter monsoons abstract high energy conditions in the yellow sea begin each year with the onset of monsoon winds in late october these transitional season surges of cold air initiate sediment resuspension vertical mixing of suspended sediments and a wind driven coastal current that flows to the south during the summer to winter transition suspended sediment concentrations in the southeastern yellow sea range from 5 100 mg l 1 at the surface and 5 500 mg l 1 at the bottom the highest concentrations occur off the southwest tip of the korean peninsula and the lowest occur in the central part of the korea strait the rate of transitional season destratification may depend on the timing and intensity of monsoonal surges whereas a late onset of monsoon winds allows waters to remain longer in their moderately stratified summer condition an early onset of monsoon winds tends to destratify the water column by mid november resulting in a nearly uniform high concentration of suspended sediments from surface to bottom the band of more turbid coastal water ends abruptly 25 50 km offshore as a turbidity front in waters 20 80 m deep a wind driven residual flow to the south appears to transport large volumes of this turbid water into the korea strait and perhaps as far as the sea of japan

clay minerals sr nd isotopes and provenance of sediments in the northwestern south china sea abstract the clay mineralogy and sr nd isotopic composition of sediments collected in the northwestern south china sea scs were investigated to understand sediment provenance and changes in the scs since the late pleistocene our results show that the clay mineral assemblages of the surface sediments are characterized by high amounts of illite and smectite and low amounts of kaolinite and chlorite the 87sr 86sr ratios of the surface sediments vary from 0 709617 to 0 734416 and end values range from 11 6 to 8 3 the clay minerals and sr nd isotope records suggest that sediments in the northwestern scs are derived from multiple sources the sediments deposited in the eastern shelf offshore of hainan originate predominantly from hainan island and south china whereas sediments in the western shelf offshore of hainan are derived mainly from indochina and hainan island however sediment source and transport mechanisms in the northwestern slope of the scs are more complicated our results suggest that input from the west may be the major sediment source but regions in the east taiwan and luzon also contribute part of the terrigenous materials downcore variations of sr nd isotopic composition in core sediments show clear glacial interglacial fluctuations higher 87sr 86sr ratios occur during glacial period indicating that the input of terrigenous materials from old continental rocks becomes one of the important sediment sources during these periods the exposure of continental shelf and southward migration of the coastline during the glacial sea level lowstand led to an increase of terrigenous supply to the northwestern slope of the scs the paleo red river and indochina are also potentially important contributors

sedimentary responses to the sea level and indian summer monsoon changes in the central bay of bengal since 40 ka abstract we present a sedimentary multi index comprehensive study on sediment core bob 56 collected from the central bay of bengal bob with an attempt to understand the sedimentary processes and their responses to sea level change and the indian summer monsoon ism since the last glacial period we revealed the temporal evolution of terrigenous input and provided a brief discussion of the implications of our sedimentary indexes for ocean productivity then we proposed a simple depositional model in the central bob since the last glacial period as indicated by the geochemistry mineralogy and physical indexes including linear sedimentary rate lsr ti ca rb sr and quartz calcite ratios the terrigenous input was higher during the last glacial period than during the holocene period and the sea level is suggested to be responsible for this significant distinction through the depositional center transition in the bob at the glacial interglacial scale similar terrigenous input patterns with solar radiation and precipitation before 18 ka indicated that the monsoon controlled these situations at precession related scales synchronous changes with records in the north atlantic ocean during the last deglaciation and early holocene suggested terrigenous input responses to the climate changes that also recorded by high latitude sedimentary system at millennial scales indicated by the element caco3 ba and sr authigenic accumulation rates the paleoproductivity in the central bob was at a roughly equivalent level during the last glacial period and the holocene period different terrestrial nutrient inputs and ism related ocean surface stratifications were suggested to be responsible for the level of paleoproductivity this study provides a brief understanding of the sedimentary response to the climate and emphasizes the different roles of the sea level and ism in the central bob

vorticity dynamics of seasonal variations of the antarctic circumpolar current from a modeling study abstract a one layer numerical model was developed to analyze the vorticity dynamics of the seasonal variations of currents in the southern ocean the model includes the continental geometry and bathymetry of the southern ocean and is forced by monthly climatological wind stress five cases are considered that compare i circulation over a flat bottom to that with bathymetry ii effects of zonally averaged wind stress forcing versus the climatological forcing and iii anomaly wind stress winds with the annual mean removed versus the fun stress the individual terms in the vorticity conservation equation are calculated from the model solution along two latitude lines 57 5 s which passes through drake passage and 43 5 s which is in the subtropical gyre in the zonal part of the flat bottom simulation the curl of the surface stress balances bottom stress curl however in drake passage beta advection of planetary vorticity balances bottom loss the western boundary balance such vorticity intera

distributions and origins of lipid biomarkers in surface sediments from the southern yellow sea abstract this paper reports on the spatial distribution patterns and investigates the controlling mechanisms of phytoplankton biomarkers brassicasterol for diatoms alkenones for haptophytes dinosterol for dinoflagellates and terrestrial biomarkers odd c number long chain c 27 c 29 c 31 n alkanes in surface sediments from the southern yellow sea sys the contents of the phytoplankton biomarkers in the sys surface sediments reveals a clear spatial pattern with low values near the coasts and increased values seaward caused by higher phytoplankton primary productivity and low sedimentation rates in the basin the contents of terrestrial biomarkers show high values in the northern part of the study areas off the shandong peninsula and jiangsu coast caused by inputs of materials from the modern huanghe river and the old huanghe delta respectively the results also indicate that biomarker ratios offer the best approach for reconstructing marginal sea c cycles as these proxies can be used to estimate the contributions of both terrestrial and marine organic matter and to reconstruct paleoproductivity and paleoecological changes in the sys

distinguishing sediments from the yangtze and yellow rivers china a mineral magnetic approach the yellow river and the yangtze river contribute 10 of the global fluvial sediment flux to the oceans proper characterization of the sediments of the two rivers is critical to the knowledge of their fate in the marginal seas of the west pacific ocean magnetic measurements have been made on bulk sediments as well as on separated particle size fractions of representative samples from the yellow and yangtze river estuaries with the purpose of providing an efficient means of differentiating both groups of river sediments from each other we found that on average the yangtze river estuary sediments have relatively higher ferrimagnetic mineral contents and ferrimagnetic to antiferromagentic ratios compared with the yellow river estuary sediments a diagram of saturated isothermal remanent magnetization sirm versus the demagnetization parameter s 100 can clearly distinguish sediments from the two rivers detailed magnetic measurements carried out on particle size fractions provide additional confirmation

sedimentary history of the coastal plain of the south yellow sea since 5 1 ma constrained by high resolution magnetostratigraphy of onshore borehole core gzk01 abstract the thick sedimentary sequences of the east asian continental shelves are archives of information on tectonics sea level fluctuations flood plain evolution and changes in the east asian monsoon climate however long sedimentary sequences with a reliable chronological framework from this setting are scarce here we present an integration of lithostratigraphic rock magnetic and magnetostratigraphic results for the sedimentary sequence of a 285 0 m core gzk01 recovered from the northern jiangsu coastal plain of the onshore south yellow sea eastern china alluvial fluvial lacustrine and marine deposits were identified according to lithofacies analysis and detrital magnetite and hematite are the main magnetic carriers the magnetostratigraphic results show that core gzk01 records the brunhes matuyama gauss and gilbert chrons and has an extrapolated basal age of 5 1 ma this record is the oldest sedimentary sequence yet reported from the continental shelf of the south yellow sea integrating the geochronological framework with changes in lithofacies a conceptual model of the environmental evolution of the northern jiangsu coastal plain is proposed for a long interval during the pliocene the drilling area was a lacustrine environment from the late pliocene to the early pleistocene the disappearance of the paleolake and a transition to a fluvial and marine environment suggests the peneplanation of the northern jiangsu coastal plain cumulative land sea interactions since 0 8 ma subsequently shaped the modern geomorphology the observed process of sedimentary evolution was possibly controlled by regional tectonics and long term climate changes

provenance of the north pacific sediments and process of source material transport as derived from rb sr isotopic systematics abstract rb sr isotopic systematics of 111 samples of sediments in nine cores from the north pacific of quaternary and pliocene ages have been investigated they provide information on the provenance the process of particle transport and temporal variation in the flux of source material the rb sr isotopic systematics of the core sediments show well correlated pseudo isochrons the pseudo isochrons reflect the mixing of two types of material i e the asian continental material with high 87 rb 86 sr ratios 4 5 6 5 and high 87 sr 86 sr ratios 0 723 0 727 and the volcanic material with low 87 rb 86 sr ratios and low 87 sr 86 sr ratios from island arc volcanics such as the izu ogasawara mariana and the japanese islands and oceanic islands such as the hawaiian islands 0 0 2 0 0 703 0 708 the clearness of the pseudo isochrons implies that the rb sr isotopic composition of the weathering products derived from the asian continental crust is extremely homogenized the fine fraction a few m with a high 87 rb 86 sr ratio 5 0 6 5 is widely transported into the north pacific by the middle latitude westerlies and contributes largely to pelagic sediments the coarser fraction with a lower 87 rb 86 sr ratio

holocene regression and the tidal radial sand ridge system formation in the jiangsu coastal zone east china abstract a radial tidal sand ridge system rtsrs spans more than 20 000 km 2 in the southwest yellow sea is fan shaped and stretches from qianggang toward the sea the marine rtsrs is located in a convergent divergent tidal current field cdtcf numerous drilling holes reveal an area of 3000 km 2 containing tidal sand strata in the jiangsu coastal plain on land adjacent to the marine rtsrs which stretches eastward from chengdong and is also a fan shaped with a central angle of 130 the tidal sand unit lies on a transgressive coastal barrier lagoon unit with an erosional surface between them and the latter unit is in turn lying on late pleistocene stiff mud the tidal sand unit is overlain by the littoral tidal flat unit and together they constitute the holocene regressive succession paleo current study reveals that a paleo current pattern similar to the modern marine cdtcf was present in the holocene sub aerial tidal sand strata therefore the sub aerial tidal sand bodies are deduced to be an ancient rtsrs that was formed during the holocene regression and gradually exposed and changed into land as the changjiang and huanghe deltas prograded both sub aerial and marine rtsrs should be formed in the same tidal depositional environment but in different development stages thus the radial tidal sand ridges in southwestern yellow sea should have formed not during the holocene transgression as most previous studies have inferred but in the process of holocene regression mineralogical analyses demonstrate that the sediment source of the sub aerial rtsrs initially came from the changjiang and later predominantly from the huanghe sea floor erosion by tidal currents may also provide sandy material to form the rtsrs drilling cores and ground penetrating profiles show that the paleo valleys in the study area are much smaller than the present distributaries of the changjiang river thus the presumption of direct sand supply by a large river to form the rtsrs through its apical area is cannot be supported after the sea level reached the present high stand the jiangsu coastline has been prograding seaward as the changjiang delta expanded and this progradation was accelerated when the huanghe debouched in the study area the nearshore part of rtsrs has been gradually changing into land while the entire rtsrs extends seawards in the process of the development the rtsrs apex changed from chengdong to qianggang at present the coastline is still moving seaward while the outer part of the rtsrs suffers from some erosion owing to reduction of sediment supply from both the changjiang delta and the abandoned huanghe delta

dispersal of fine grained sediments in the southeastern yellow sea a steady state model a large portion of the yellow sea is floored by fine grained clastics derived largely from the hwangho and yangtze rivers in the southeastern yellow sea however coarse grained sediments prevail derived probably from the short and steep korean rivers farther east the coarse grained sediments contain substantial amounts of fine fractions near the keum estuary detrital clays such as kaolinite and chlorite are abundant in the free fractions and this trend extends for about 120 km both toward the northwest and the southwest illite appears to be dominant in the rest of the yellow sea the data suggest that the bulk of fine grained sediments in the southeastern yellow sea originates from the keum river the sediments are subsequently transported by prevailing nearshore currents both northwestward during summer and southwestward in winter the tidal currents may also play a role the close correspondance between the oceanographic data and the mineralogic evidence suggests that the dispersal of fine grained sediments in the southeastern yellow sea occurs largely under the steady state conditions

tracing patterns of erosion and drainage in the paleogene himalaya through ion probe pb isotope analysis of detrital k feldspars in the indus molasse india abstract the indus molasse is a pre and syn tectonic sedimentary sequence situated in the indus suture zone of the western himalaya spanning in time the collision of india and asia this deposit is well placed to record the evolving uplift and erosion history of the early himalayan orogen nd isotope analyses from clay extracted from shales interbedded within the dominantly alluvial sequence indicate a low negative nd 1 64 to 0 72 in the basal paleocene chogdo formation slightly more negative than measured values from the transhimalaya and kohistan dras arc up section nd becomes more negative as low as 10 05 indicating influence of a different more enriched source ion microprobe pb isotopic analyses of single k feldspars help constrain this source as being either the lhasa or karakoram blocks with westward paleo current flow favoring the former 207pb 204pb ratios are too low to be consistent with known indian plate sources a conclusion supported by the lack of muscovite or garnet that would be indicative of a high himalayan contribution given the known age of rapid cooling of the high himalaya at 20 ma and the lack of exposure of suitable lithologies prior to that time an age of sedimentation prior to 20 ma is inferred the post collisional change in paleo flow and provenance is suggested to reflect the initiation of the indus river during the early eocene this study demonstrates the power of combined bulk sediment and single grain analyses in resolving provenance in tectonically complex settings

quiet variability of equatorial e b drifts during a sudden stratospheric warming event 1 we present strong evidence that during the january 2008 minor sudden stratospheric warming ssw event the equatorial vertical e b drifts exhibit a unique and distinctive daytime pattern we do not think one event causes the other however both events might be related through the global effects of planetary waves the drifts were measured by the jicamarca incoherent scatter radar located under the magnetic equator we have observed an anomalous temporal variation of the vertical e b drifts during the minor ssw event showing a semidiurnal variation with very large amplitudes lasting for several days large differences in the e b drifts were observed during a period of large increase of temperature and a large decrease of mean zonal wind in the high latitude stratosphere 60 90 n this high correlation is an unexpected finding which might shed new light on sources and mechanisms of quiet time ionospheric variability

tidal current ridges in the southwestern yellow sea abstract large tidal current ridges tidal sand banks in the southwestern yellow sea are located offshore of northern jiangsu province china these ridges radiate to a depth of 20 30 m the dimensions of the ridge system are about 200 km long and 90 km wide their morphology indicates the strong influence of tidal currents the ridges are composed of well sorted fine sands size range is 2 4 the grain size distributions of the sands show that the sands are transported and deposited by tidal currents the ridge system formed on the abandoned yellow river and ancient yangtze river deltas has an abundant sand supply from the former deltas of particular importance is the existence of two tidal wave systems in the yellow sea the rotary ti al wave system in the southern yellow sea and the pacific progressive tidal wave system propagated into the southern ridge area of the southwestern yellow sea under the interaction of the two tidal wave systems the huge tidal current system in the southwestern yellow sea has formed

high resolution acoustic characteristics of epicontinental sea deposits central eastern yellow sea abstract large amounts 45390 line km of closely spaced 2 2 4 4 km high resolution subbottom profiles chirp 2 7 khz made it possible to identify detailed echo types and their distribution in an epicontinental shelf environment on the basis of seafloor morphology surface bedforms and subbottom acoustic characters 10 echo types were identified in the uppermost sedimentary sequence of the central eastern yellow sea flat seafloor with sharp bottom echoes echo types 1 1 1 2 and 1 3a transgressive sediment sheets or relict sands is widespread in the offshore area and underlain to the west by an acoustically transparent wedge echo type 1 3b highstand muds mounded seafloor with either smooth surface or superposed bedforms echo types 2 1 2 2 and 2 3 tidal ridges and flat seafloor with regularly spaced wavy bedforms echo type 1 4 large scale dunes are dominant in the eastern nearshore area large scale mounds with continuous inclined internal reflectors echo type 2 4 giant mud bank occur in the southeastern nearshore area various scale eroded seafloor echo types 3 1 and 3 2 channels and flat seafloor with regularly spaced wavy bedforms echo type 1 4 large scale dunes are present in the northern part of the sea the distribution pattern of echo types in the central eastern yellow sea reflects depositional processes and sediment dispersal systems during the holocene transgression and highstand period 1 development of tidal ridges and large scale dunes in response to strong tidal currents and waves in the eastern nearshore area 2 construction of transgressive to highstand mud bank huksan mud belt by deposition of muds derived from the keum river in the southeastern nearshore area 3 active erosion due to intensified currents in the northern part and 4 highstand mud deposition derived from the huanghe river on the transgressive sediment sheets in the offshore area

mineralogical and isotopic evidence for the sediment provenance of the western south yellow sea since mis 3 and implications for paleoenvironmental evolution abstract changing sediment provenance and related paleoenvironmental evolution since marine isotope stages mis 3 have been investigated based on accelerator mass spectrometry ams 14c and optically stimulated luminescence osl dating of core csdp 01 recovered from the western south yellow sea sys based on our results sea level fluctuations and monsoonal climate variations are identified as the principal factors driving these changes sea level fluctuations determined the accommodation space in the shelf area while the monsoonal climate controlled the sediment supply capacity from river to sea mineral and sr nd isotopic records reveal the major contribution of the paleo changjiang river yangtze river to the study core area during the early mid mis 3 which likely defined the northern limit of the paleo changjiang delta at that time high sediment supply and limited accommodation space led to the development of sediment fed systems on the sys shelf resulting in a high preservation potential for thick stacking and overlapping deltaic sediments along with deltaic progradation core sediment provenance gradually transformed from the paleo changjiang river to the paleo huanghe river yellow river near the late mis 3 implying that the paleo huanghe river likely emptied into the sys and built a large delta during the mis 3 interval a strong summer monsoon during the early mis 1 interval was favorable for the changjiang to deliver abundant sediments to the study core area a weak summer monsoon during the mid late mis 1 when the coastline had retreated to nearly its present day position decreased the changjiang and huanghe supply to the study area low sediment supply and sufficient accommodation space gave rise to the development of sediment starved systems during this period nd values fluctuated between the changjiang and huanghe sources at that time suggesting that sea bed erosion materials are the main sediment contribution to the study area in general sedimentary evolution in the western sys since mis 3 is a good example of river sea interaction in the marginal seas of southeast asia in which sea level and monsoonal climate changes should play an important role

stratigraphy and subaerial exposure of late quaternary tidal deposits in haenam bay korea south eastern yellow sea late quaternary stratigraphy of the coastal deposits in haenam bay south western coast of korea south eastern yellow sea consists of two depositional units a holocene intertidal deposit unit i and an underlying late pleistocene tidal deposit unit ii both of which are distinguished by distinct unconformity the yellowish colour and more consolidated and oxidized nature are characteristics of the sediments in the upper part of unit ii in spite of the lack of primary sedimentary structures a conspicuous cryogenic structure was found in the upper part of unit ii reflecting cold and dry conditions the magnetic susceptibility enhancement in the upper part of unit ii added the possibility of pedogenesis during subaerial exposure the upper part of unit ii is characterized by the deficiency of smectite and chlorite in contrast to the clay mineral suites of unit i and lower part of unit ii which may be attributed to post depositional and diagenetic alteration the degree of weathering measured by the chemical index of alteration shows that the removal of labile minerals by leaching also occurred in the upper part of unit ii thus the upper part of this unit appears to have undergone subaerial exposure and weathering during low sea level stands the supporting evidence of the sediment properties including sediment colour and structure water contents and shear strength geochemical and clay mineralogical data and magnetic susceptibility provides the potential signature of the subaerial exposure and weathering of late pleistocene sediments in the tidal dominated haenam bay sedimentary basin

evolution of sedimentary mode since pleistocene in the central south yellow sea china based on seismic stratigraphy analysis abstract in order to investigate the distribution development and evolution of the strata in the south yellow sea basin sysb seismic and core data were analyzed fourteen 14 reflecting interfaces and 13 seismic units are identified and a stratigraphic framework since 1 81 ma b p is established the deposition rate has changed since 126 ka b p the stratigraphic model shows that the sysb responded to sea level changes during the same period 126 ka b p which suggests a model change of the development of regional strata between 1 81 ma b p and 126 ka b p the zhejiang minnan uplift zmu obstructed the intrusion of seawater into the sysb which is the main factor responsible for the development of regional strata while the sea level fluctuation and fluvial material input have dominated the formation of the strata since 126 ka b p

evolution of late quaternary mud deposits and recent sediment budget in the southeastern yellow sea abstract analysis of high resolution seismic reflection profiles and sediment samples has revealed the evolution and sediment budget of the southeastern yellow sea mud belt seysm along the southwestern korean peninsula the seysm up to 50 m thick over 250 km long and 20 55 km wide can be divided into three stratigraphic units a1 a2 and b from oldest to youngest unit a1 overlying the acoustic basement comprises the northern part of the seysm unit a2 comprises the southern part of the seysm much of unit a2 is exposed at the seafloor unit b completely covers unit a1 and pinches out southward 14c data suggest that evolution of each unit is closely related to the postglacial sea level changes unit a1 consists of estuarine deltaic or shallow water muds deposited during the early to middle stage of postglacial sea level rise ca 14 000 7000 yr b p unit a2 corresponds to relict muds deposited during the last deceleration stage of sea level rise ca 7000 3 500 yr b p unit b consists of shelf muds deposited during the recent sea level highstand ca very low background activities of 210pb of the surface sediment of unit a2 suggest that the present day sediment accumulation is negligible in the southern seysm on the other hand 210pb excess activity profiles in unit b yield an average sediment accumulation rate of 3 9 mm yr indicating active sediment accumulation in the northern seysm the annual sink 3 0 10 7 tons yr of fine grained sediment in unit b is about an order of magnitude greater than can be explained by the sediment input from the korean rivers alone we propose that reworking of unit a2 has provided large volumes of muds to unit b resulting in excessive sediment accumulation in the northern seysm much of unit a2 in turn is likely to have originated from erosion of unit a1 in the north this rather unique erosional depositional regime of the seysm is probably owing to the tidal and regional currents characteristic in the southeastern yellow sea

geochemistry of alkaline earth elements mg ca sr ba in the surface sediments of the yellow sea abstract the concentrations of alkaline earth elements were measured in the surface sediments of the yellow sea in an attempt to establish their sources from horizontal distributions the maximum concentrations of mg are found in the central yellow sea and its horizontal distribution is mainly controlled by quartz dilution the concentrations of ca and sr increase toward the southeastern yellow sea region the relatively higher enrichment of ca and sr in the southeastern yellow sea with sr ca ratios of 0 0053 suggests the presence of carbonates which are comprised of foraminifera and or coccoliths like deep sea carbonates on the other hand the concentrations of ba increase toward the northeastern yellow sea the higher ba enrichment in the sandy region of the northeastern yellow sea is associated with the presence of feldspar as evidenced by excellent correlations among ba mg al mg and sr ca ratios our results suggest that the transgressive and relict sand occurring in the eastern parts of the yellow sea contains al sr and ba enriched feldspars which originated from arprock river korea and thus can be distinguished from sand occurring in the western parts of the yellow sea which originated from yellow and yangtze rivers

the rare earth element geochemistry of surface sediments in four transects in the south china sea and its geological significance seventy five samples of surface sediment were collected from four transects in the south china sea scs for analyses of rare earth element ree geochemistry total ree abundance ree in the scs varies from 45 to 195 ppm average 128 ppm lower than that of the upper continental crust the spatial distribution of ree is strongly dependent upon the geographical location and depositional environment low ree concentrations are observed on the continental slope e g xisha and nansha islands while high ree concentrations are present in the deep basin sediments on the slope are also characterized by lower lree hree la yb n eu eu and ce ce ratios relative to deep basin sediments there is a positive correlation between al2o3 and ree and a negative correlation between cao and ree conversely the relatively insignificant fe mn oxide accumulation in the scs suggests that manganese nodules do not make a significant contribution to the bulk ree composition of sediments therefore the sediment ree geochemistry is mainly controlled by terrigenous and biogenic sources biogenic carbonate has a diluting effect on ree concentrations but a significant influence on lree hree ce ce and la yb n values is found only in sediments with especially high biogenic carbonate levels the ree geochemistry of scs surface sediments indicates that their source is mainly post archean felsic rocks in the eastern sub basin the relatively low lree hree ratios and high eu eu values of the sediments indicate that significant terrigenous materials are derived from young volcanic rocks e g rocks in the luzon arc

geochemical discrimination of clastic sedimentary rock sources abstract factors controlling the geochemistry of a clastic sedimentary rock can include 1 composition of source terrain 2 chemical weathering 3 hydraulic sorting 4 diagenesis 5 metamorphism and 6 hydrothermal alteration a linear solution inferring source terrain composition from geochemistry of the sediment is impossible in this multivariate system as several unknowns will commonly be present the use of graphical analysis of element pairs circumvents the problem chemically immobile elements will maintain invariant ratios during rock mass change caused by either addition or depletion of mobile elements this results in chemically immobile element scattergrams exhibiting linear trends along radians extending from the origin if the major mineral phases of the immobile elements have behaved in a hydrodynamically similar manner as chemically mobile element plots will produce a scatter of points this relationship can be used to test chemical immobility and similarity in hydrodynamic sorting history the constraint on analysis is that the source area must be compositionally uniform or the sediment well mixed prior to delivery to the basin a second technique using sio2 plots has also been developed to investigate element mobility and hydrodynamic behaviour of the mineral phases containing the elements sio2 immobile element plots result in a linear arrangement of points extending towards either 0 or 100 sio2 the 0 intercept position occurs for elements with major mineral phases concentrated in sand the 100 intercept for those concentrated in clays plotting chemically mobile elements produces different patterns and this can be used to gain information on alteration and sorting history elemental ratios for chemically immobile elements with similar hydrodynamic behaviour will be the same as those for the weighted average composition of the source material this provides a powerful tool for deducing source terrain from sediment geochemistry techniques outlined above were tested on archaean metasandstones from superior province canada immobile element ratio diagrams for nb al ti and zr al ti indicate that a calc alkaline extrusive intrusive suite lying to the north of the study area was the source and not five other volcanic suites in the region this conclusion agrees with previous clast lithology studies and accentuates the applicability of the geochemical techniques

sediment accumulation in a modern epicontinental shelf setting the yellow sea sediment accumulation in the yellow sea epicontinental shelf environment is investigated on 100 yr and 1000 yr time scales using 210pb and 14c geochronologies the distribution of modern 210pb accumulation rates in the yellow sea reveals that the loci of modern huanghe sediment accumulation are the topset 1 2 mm yr foreset 4 9 mm yr and proximal bottomset deposits 2 4 mm yr of the shandong subaqueous delta which extends south from the shandong peninsula 210pb rates in the distal bottomset deposits of the subaqueous delta in the central and southern yellow sea are generally low 0 3 0 9 mm yr a sediment budget demonstrates that between 9 15 of the annual huanghe discharge is accumulating in the yellow sea about two thirds of this sediment is accumulating in the topset foreset and proximal bottomset deposits of the shandong subaqueous delta with the remaining third accumulating as widespread distal bottomset deposits 14c age dates of subaqueous delta sediments indicate that the thick 40m clinoform structure formed predominantly between 6200 and 4060 yrs b p at rates approaching 20 mm yr observations in the yellow sea as well as on the amazon and ganges brahmaputra shelves demonstrate that subaqueous deltaic stratigraphy is the general rule where major rivers enter energetic shelves whether epicontinental or pericontinental the development of extensive bottomset deposits may be restricted to epicontinental shelf environments and may be diagnostic of sedimentation in this type of setting

chemical fingerprinting in detrital ilmenite a viable alternative in provenance research abstract detrital ilmenite grains carry unique chemical fingerprints that can be used in provenance research the elemental composition mn ti v mg cr al reported in weight percent oxide as determined by electron probe microanalysis of homogeneous detrital ilmenite grains from felsic plutonic and volcanic intermediate volcanic and marie plutonic and volcanic parent rocks indicates that chemical signatures obtained in felsic and marie igneous parent rocks are retained by detrital ilmenite grains in daughter sands grains from marie igneous sources are enriched in tio2 50 1 and have a more narrow range then grains from felsic igneous sources 48 2 in addition grains with mno 2 0 are most prevalent in sands from felsic rocks stepwise discriminan function analysis using the oxides mno tio2 v2o3 mgo cr2o3 and al2o3 as the discriminating variables found that grains from felsic and marie igneous rocks could be correctly classified 86 of the time however when grains from intermediate volcanic sources were added to the model correct classification dropped to 62 the complex chemical nature of detrital ilmenite grains from intermediate igneous sources indicates that there is much yet to learn about the composition of detrital ilmenite grains however if used in conjunction with other methods chemical fingerprinting in detrital ilmenite may be a valuable addition to provenance research

depositional patterns of sand ridges in tide dominated shallow water environments yellow sea coast and south sea of korea abstract the continental shelf of the yellow sea and the korean south sea is a tide dominated shelf a number of sand ridges occur in this area which form bathymetric highs surveyed were one large sand ridge jangan satoe along the western yellow sea coast and a group of mid shelf sand ridges in the south sea to delineate their depositional pattern and probable origin in tide dominated shallow water environments analyses of sediment samples side scan sonographs and seismic profiles reveal that these ridges show regionally different characteristics in morphology bedforms and sediment the sand ridge in the yellow sea shows a composite form of various bedforms including sand waves and megaripples this ridge is interpreted to be in an accretional active stage maintained by strong tidal currents in contrast the sand ridges on the mid shelf of the south sea show rounded single forms without bedforms on them they are interpreted to represent moribund type sand ridges in the shelf environment which were formed near the shoreline during the holocene sea level transgression these ridges developed off the paleo seomjin river during a period of a stillstand or slow sea level rise approximately between 10 000 and 7000 yrs b p

origin of rare earth element anomalies in mangrove sediments sepetiba bay se brazil used as geochemical tracers of sediment sources elemental contents were determined in two mangrove habitats along sepetiba bay se brazil an area impacted by local industrial activities as well as hinterland water diversion networks this study demonstrates how specific rees la ce nd sm eu tb yb and lu may be used as a sediment source tracer to mangrove dominated coastlines from the two stations studied a pair of cores was collected one in the mangrove forest and the other in the tidal flat station 1 results show a general enrichment in most of the fractioned patterns of the rees normalised by post archean australian shale the relatively light rare earth elements are similarly enriched in the generally more polluted station 1 despite the probable difference in background sediment characteristics a common sharp increase in mud contents patterns in the upper part of the mangrove sediment core was related to a lower ree content as well as eu anomalies with existing knowledge of clockwise water circulation in the bay these patterns can be explained by man made water diversion from the sao francisco and guandu rivers initiated more than 30 years ago whereby suspended matter with relatively large contents of rees and material originating from industrial sources accumulate in the eastern sector of the bay this is the first comprehensive assessment of rees as sedimentary tracers in a mangrove ecosystem in brazil

ree partitioning in riverine sediments around the yellow sea and its importance in shelf sediment provenance abstract we sought to identify the characteristics and their controlling factors of rare earth element ree fractionation patterns in two chemically partitioned labile and residual fractions of korean kr and chinese riverine cr sediments we also investigated their sediment origins in the yellow sea based on ree signatures the results showed that the upper continental crust ucc normalized ree fractionation patterns were remarkably different for labile and residual fractions even between kr and cr sediments notably kr sediments in both residual and labile fractions exhibited a striking enrichment of light rees lrees unlike cr sediments with no obvious fractionation such lree enrichment is relatively much stronger in the coarse grained sandy sediments the peculiar lree enrichment in both fractions of kr sediments was preferentially linked to grater felsic granitic compositions compared with cr sediments that were close to those of the ucc granodiorite with relatively more mafic minerals consisting of a mixture of various rock types application of these ree signatures to the provenance of yellow sea sediments provides an important clue to the cause underlying the lack of correlation between the mud budget and the river discharge in korean coastal regions as well as the ultimate fate of cr sediments the ree fractionation signals especially in residual fractions may shed light on the major existing phases affecting ree fractionation as well as the origin of sediments in the yellow sea

benthic foraminifer record of environmental changes in the yellow sea hwanghae during the last 15 000 years latest quaternary benthic foraminifer census counts in four cores from the yellow sea hwanghae were analyzed to decipher paleoenvironmental changes in this area since the last glacial maximum principal component analyses of samples from two cores in the central yellow sea indicate that the faunal variation in these cores re ects a sequence of distinct assemblages divided by sharp boundaries the shifts between individual biofacies correspond to changes in geochemical and lithological composition of the sediments and stable isotope ratios of foraminiferal shells and most can be correlated between cores the major faunal transition at a clear increase in bottom water salinity occurred between 8 47 and 6 63 ka and may indicate the establishment of modern type circulation in the yellow sea the inferred threshold size of the yellow sea basin for the establishment of such circulation seems to be rather close to its present day extent faunal shifts at 10 6 and 4 67 ka probably re ect changes in the intensity of river runo associated sediment and organic carbon delivery and bottom water oxygenation changes in benthic foraminifer faunas between 12 9 and 11 75 ka may signal the younger dryas climatic oscillation in the yellow sea the lateglacial marine transgression reached the central part of the yellow sea around 15 09 ka possibly an uplift of the central and eastern yellow sea area during the late holocene can explain the discrepancy between the timing of the transgression in the yellow sea and the global sea level curve 2000 published by elsevier science ltd all rights reserved

tidal deposition systems of china s continental shelf with special reference to the eastern bohai sea abstract the continental shelf of china has undergone a large scale marine transgression tidal currents have become the main active agent and have had a profound influence on the deposition and geomorphology of the shelf the continental shelf of china has five modern tidal deposition systems 1 the eastern part of the yellow sea 2 the eastern part of the bohai sea 3 off the mouth of yangtze river 4 to the west of taiwan and 5 the strait of qiongzhou when the tidal current speed is above 150 cm s erosion dominates and reciprocating currents form deep scour furrows when the tidal current speed is 50 to 150 cm s deposition is dominant and tidal currents form tidal shoals i e tidal sand ridges and tidal sand sheets whose margins are near an absolute ellipticity value for the m2 tidal component of 0 4 when the absolute m2 value is less than 0 4 a reciprocating current is strong enough to form tidal sand ridges when the absolute value is above 0 4 a rotating current increases so as to form a tidal sand sheet tidal deposition material came mainly from tidal erosion and locally redeposition of late pleistocene sediments and from the neighbouring sea bottom the tidal deposition system in the eastern bohai sea is a typical example it consists of the laotieshan channel scour furrow the liaodong shoal sand ridges and the bozhong shoal sand sheet the maximum tidal current speed in the laotieshan channel where strong erosion occurs is up to 250 cm s in the liaodong shoal the maximum tidal current speed is 64 115 cm s and the absolute ellipticity value of the m2 tidal component is less than 0 4 in the bozhong shoal the maximum tidal speed is 58 79 cm s and the absolute ellipticity value of the m2 tidal component is above 0 4 the small scale bedforms surveyed in detail in the area show that the sand ridges and sand sheet are still under the action of tidal current processes at the present time based on the interpretation of tidal currents bedforms and sediment thickness it is inferred that the general direction of sediment transport within the study area is nnw from the laotieshan channel to the liaodong and bozhong shoals the small scale bedforms in the detailed survey area indicate a local net sediment transport from south to north

geochemistry of surface sediments off the southern and western coasts of korea abstract the continental shelf off the southern and western side of the korean peninsula is part of a modern epicontinental sea and is an effective sediment trap for clastic material derived from china and korea we have analyzed 179 surface sediment samples from this shelf for al fe na k mg ca ti p mn sr ba v cr co ni cu zn organic carbon and calcium carbonate in order to determine the geochemical characteristics of these sediments results showed a wide range of element contents which are mainly related to the textural variability of sediments exceptions to this were found in the contents of ca k sr and ba the ca and sr contents were largely determined by the amounts of carbonate present the k content on the other hand appeared to be influenced by both the contents of illite and feldspar and ba of potassium feldspar for muds i e sediments deposited under present day conditions it is possible to distinguish those in the central yellow sea from those in the keum estuary the former are characterized by high contents of fe na k mg ca and v and the latter by high contents of mn ba and co these differences become more apparent when these elements are normalized relative to al in order to minimize grain size effects the distribution of v al ratios is different from that of other elements the highest v al values occur in muds from the central yellow sea derived from the huanghe the yellow river in china whereas the highest values of mn al are found in the nearshore area adjacent to the korean peninsula based on these results it is suggested that the sources of fine sediments in the yellow and south seas can be distinguished from the geochemical characteristics of the surface sediments in the yellow sea two different sources of fine grained sediments can be seen the huanghe and the keum river the former is characterized by higher v contents and the latter by higher mn contents using the v al ratio as an end member component of the two source materials the dispersal patterns of the fine sediments 6o were also derived

contrasting behavior of tungsten and molybdenum in the okinawa trough the east china sea and the yellow sea by using catalytic current polarography and high resolution inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry w and mo in seawater were determined in the okinawa trough a backarc rift and in the east china sea and the yellow sea mo was distributed conservatively throughout the study area and its salinity normalized concentration was 104 6 nm n 105 w was also uniformly distributed south of the kuroshio current 56 7 pm n 51 anomalous high concentrations of w maximum 254 pm were found in the iheya graben in the middle okinawa trough gt 1 000 m depth which were probably supplied by hydrothermal activity the concentrations of mo and w in the east china sea and the yellow sea showed linear correlation with salinity 26 lt s lt 35 the mo data can be explained by mixing of seawater and river water of the changjiang mo 10 nm qu et al 1993 however the values of w extrapolated to s 0 were largely different between two cruises 1 200 pm in may june 1987 and 540 pm in june 1994 and much higher than the reported concentrations of 160 pm for world rivers by turekian 1969 and 30 pm for unpolluted japanesemore rivers by sohrin et al 1989 moreover significantly high w was observed in the bottom water at stations near the changjiang river estuary and the western yellow sea while these data may suggest that w is released from the anoxic sediments of the continental shelf more data are needed to elucidate the mechanism controlling the distribution of w less

exploratory morphodynamic hindcast of the evolution of the abandoned yellow river delta 1578 1855 ce abstract the abandoned yellow river delta ayd which formed when the yellow river flowed into the southern yellow sea between 1128 and 1855 ce is a representative example of the sensitivity of deltas to modifications in their environments in this study we established a process based morphodynamic model to explore the morphological evolution of one such large scale fine grained delta the ayd before 1855 ce the uncertainties in the model settings which are inevitable when historical data are insufficient were assessed together with the corresponding influences on the evolution of the deltaic system by considering a series of scenarios the results indicate that the strength of local tidal forcing is the key factor that determines the shape and evolutionary trend of the delta sediment input discharge and the slope of the initial coastal profile have a considerable effect on the overall size of the delta and the relative ratio between subaerial and subaqueous parts of the delta respectively based on the evaluation of the uncertainties and a comparison with historical maps the simulated ayd was evaluated to be reliable through an analysis of the temporal delta evolution and residual sediment transport the morphological evolution of the ayd before 1855 ce was investigated the southern delta grew as the shoals merged with the mainland which is in agreement with an existing hypothesis zhang 1984 whereas the accretion of the northern delta was independent from the shoals in the northern part additionally suggestions are made regarding the distribution of the ayd at the end of its progradation stage which provides fundamental information for analyzing subsequent erosion processes since 1855 ce this study differs from existing studies on the ayd which are all based on geological approaches it provides insight into the evolution of the ayd through an alternative means viz a process based morphodynamic modeling approach

geochemical compositions and provenance discrimination of the central south yellow sea sediments geochemical compositions and sedimentation rates of surface and core sediments in the central south yellow sea were analyzed for the identification of sediment origins the sediment accumulation rates measured by 210 pb geochronology decrease significantly from the western part to the central area calcium carbonate total organic carbon and most elements are more enriched in the western muddy sediments than in the sandy eastern part overall geochemical compositions of the central south yellow sea sediments vary between those of chinese and korean river sediments supplied into the sea although caco3 content exhibits regional variations in the central south yellow sea the discrimination diagram of sc al vs cr th distinctly suggests that the muddy holocene sediments in the central western part are derived ultimately from chinese rivers especially the huanghe river whereas the eastern sandy sediments primarily came from the korean rivers during the postglacial transgression 2007 elsevier b v all rights reserved

discrimination of geochemical compositions between the changjiang and the huanghe sediments and its application for the identification of sediment source in the jiangsu coastal plain china concentrations of 25 elements in the fine grained fraction 6 63 wm of bottom sediments of the changjiang and the huanghe were determined to characterize the geochemical compositions of each riverine origin most of the elements except for alkali and alkaline earth elements na ca sr and ba are highly enriched in the changjiang sediments compared to those in the huanghe sediments differences in source rocks and weathering mechanisms between the two drainage basins are the major factors controlling those compositional characteristics the provenance index of core sediments from the northern jiangsu coastal plain calculated with nine elements with distinct compositional differences between both river sediments indicates that the changjiang had prevailed in the coastal plain sedimentation during the early stage of holocene while the huanghe dominated over the area during the late holocene however neither of the signatures of the modern changjiang and huanghe derived sediments is remarkable in the present day coastal plain 5 2002 elsevier science b v all rights reserved

quaternary shelf sea palaeoceanography recent developments in europe abstract high quality palaeoceanographic reconstructions based on sequences preserved in shallow marine environments demonstrate that these constitute significant archives of climatic and oceanographic change such sequences are important first because their often very high resolution sometimes laminated nature enables high frequency cycles to be resolved and provides the basis for establishing spatial and temporal variability in the marine radiocarbon reservoir effect second sea level index points from shelves are important for the validation of glacio hydro isostatic geophysical models and for understanding sea level change during early deglaciation third shallow marine sequences contain excellent records of land ocean interaction often preserving paired terrestrial marine proxies in the same stratigraphic sequence a new development in shelf sea palaeoceanography is documenting the long term dynamics of shelf sea stratification this is the dominant hydrodynamic phenomenon of tide dominated shelf seas in the middle and high latitudes and has a profound influence on productivity and therefore global change through the carbon cycle detailing the evolution of seasonal stratification during eustatic highstands is therefore of relevance to the climate system

origin and dispersal of recent clay minerals in the yellow sea abstract the clay minerals in the by considering the clay minerals supplied by rivers in china the old and present day huanghe river and korea the keum and yeongsan to the yellow sea continental shelf and the spatial variation in the distribution of clay minerals in the yellow sea this study indicates that the provenance of the cysm may be closely related to the old and present day huanghe river system whereas the clay minerals in the seysm seem to be largely associated with the keum and yeongsan rivers in addition smectite may be suggested as an important clay mineral in differentiating between cysm and seysm and understanding the sources of these two mud categories

mean residence time of the shelf water in the east china and the yellow seas determined by 228ra 226ra measurements increasing attention of oceanographers has recently been paied on east asian marginal seas regarding their role on the global environment yet geochemical investigations have been few to date we here report new data on the distribution of 228ra and 226ra in the surface water of the east china and the yellow seas in an effort to constrain the time necessary for the coastal and shelf waters to exchange with offshore waters such information is needed in evaluating the exchange of heat and water across the air sea interface that affects the local climate and the fate of pollutants nutrients and weathering products supplied from the continent based on the ra isotope signals we have estimated that the shelf water component contributes 20 of the tsushima current water passing through the tsushima strait and the mean residence time for the shelf water to mix with the kuroshio surface water is 2 3 years as many of materials derived from the continent such as heavy metals and the nutrients have their mean residence times less than a few months in the nearshore and shelf waters they must largely deposit on the shelf sediments prior to the transport from the shelf to the open sea by mixing

origin of inner shelf mud deposit in the southeastern yellow sea huksan mud belt abstract a variety of previous sedimentological results together with newly obtained hydrodynamic data are summarized and reinterpreted with respect to the most likely origin of the huksan mud belt hmb in the southeastern yellow sea the hmb consists of two mud units that have similar grain texture and clay mineralogy but can be differentiated on seismic profiles because the lower unit is generally harder than the watery upper unit the hydrographic measurements together with satellite imagery clearly indicate that the suspended plume covering the hmb originates from the west coast of korea the suspended plume becomes enhanced by winter monsoon winds beginning in late fall most of the studies of clay mineralogy geochemistry and isotherm distribution also suggest that the hmb has been derived from the west coast of korea particularly from the keum river an approximate evaluation of the depositional time for the hmb based on its dimensions and the discharge rate of the keum river suggests a time duration of the order of 14 000 years hydrodynamic measurements across two transects over the northernmost hmb reveal that suspended matter travels southwest toward the main body of the hmb in a well constrained corridor ultimately connected with the keum river time series 12 5 h hydrodynamic measurements at a site over the hmb suggest that the winter season suspended plume carries concentrations of suspended matter one to two orders of magnitude higher than those of the summer silt grains of 5 6 well sorted through numerous resuspension events settle out onto the hmb forming distinctive silt laminae alternating with clay rich laminae

speciation and spatial distribution of solid phase iron in surface sediments of the east china sea continental shelf abstract speciation and reactivity characterization of solid phase fe in marine sediments are of significance to understanding its heterogeneous mineralogy and crystallinity the diagenetic cycling of fe and its regulating roles on many other elements in sediments in this study a combination of sequential and single step extractions was used for the determination of seven fe pools in surface sediments of the east china sea ecs continental shelf 1 carbonate associated fe fe ii carb plus acid volatile sulfide fe fe ii avs 2 easily reducible amorphous poorly crystalline fe oxides fe ox1 3 reducible crystalline fe oxides fe ox2 4 magnetite fe mag 5 poorly reactive sheet silicate fe fe prs 6 pyrite fe fe py and 7 unreactive silicate fe fe u total fe fe t in the sediments is largely determined by terrestrial aluminosilicate particles as indicated by a great similarity of the fe t with that of the yangtze river and global riverine particulates the size of fe prs is found to be the largest pool followed by fe u fe ox2 fe mag fe ii avs carb fe ox1 and fe py the large fe prs may result from neoformation of fe rich clay minerals via reverse weathering and subsequent ageing the small sizes of fe ii avs carb and fe py pools is believed to be the result of low so 4 reduction due to generally low labile organic matter together with the oxic suboxic dynamic environments of the surface sediments the occurrence of fe ox1 fe ox2 and fe prs in the sediments is closely associated with the clay fraction as indicated by a high spatial correlation between the former and the latter highly reactive fe fe hr in the sediments is comparable to that in global marine sediments but apparently lower than in the yangtze river and global riverine particulates due probably to sequestration in the yangtze estuary the ratios of fe hr fe t fe pr fe t and fe u fe t in the ecs surface sediments consistently show more similarity to those in the yangtze river particulates than in the global continental margin or deep sea sediments the surface sediments maintain a high level of buffering capacity toward sulfidation suggested by a large fraction of highly reactive fe iii oxides fe iii hr in fe hr

the rare earth element compositions of the changjiang yangtze and huanghe yellow river sediments thirty four samples from the changjiang and huanghe were analyzed to characterize their rare earth element ree compositions although ree concentrations in the changjiang sediments are higher than those of the huanghe sediments the former are less variable bulk samples and acid leachable fractions have convex ree patterns and middle ree enrichments relative to upper continental crust whereas flat patterns are present in the residual fractions source rock composition is the primary control on ree composition and weathering processes play a minor role grain size exerts some influence on ree composition as demonstrated by the higher ree contents of clay minerals in sediments from both rivers heavy minerals contribute about 10 20 of the total ree in the sediments apatite is rare in the river sediments and contributes less than 2 of the ree content but other heavy minerals such as sphene allanite and zircon are important reservoirs of residual ree fractions the fe mn oxides phase accounts for about 14 of bulk ree content in the changjiang sediments which could be one of the more important factors controlling ree fractionation in the leachable fraction 6 2002 elsevier science b v all rights reserved

holocene paleoenvironmental changes in mud area southwest off cheju island east china sea evidence from benthic foraminiferal assemblages and stable isotope records abstract a sediment core retrieved from the mud area southwest off cheju island masci was analysed for benthic foraminifera grain size and stable isotopes and constrained by ams14c dating holocene paleoenvironmental changes in this broad shallow shelf were investigated with special focus on the evolution of the masci and its related ocean eddy system the results indicate that the east china sea shelf has undergone four major environmental evolution stages during the holocene prior to 9 8 cal kyr bp the benthic foraminiferal assemblages were dominated by low salinity shallow water species ammonia beccarii linnaeus elphidium advenum cushman and cribrononion subincertum asano reflecting a near coast deposit environment a noticeable transition of the benthic foraminifera from an a beccarii dominated to ammonia compressiuscula brady dominated assemblage taking place at approximately 9 8 cal kyr bp together with a contemporaneous increase in 18o and 13c provides evidence that a rapid rise in sea level occurred at this time in the east china shelf a gradual increase in 18o between 9 8 and 6 cal kyr bp indicates a steady strengthening influence of open ocean water on the area under study a sudden increase in the abundance of benthic foraminifera along with a decrease in the coarse fraction imply that an early eddy circulation system was established since almost 6 cal kyr bp in the masci this eddy circulation system was quite weak but gradually strengthened between 6 and 3 cal kyr bp possibly due to the intrusion of the yellow sea warm current yswc a more stable mud deposition period characterised by a high sedimentation rate of fine grained sediment and lighter value of 13c starting at approximately 3 cal kyr bp indicates that the masci was formed mainly during the late holocene we believe that the strengthened yswc since 3 cal kyr bp might increase the trap efficiency of the eddy system thereby accounting for the high sedimentation rate of mud deposits during this period

contribution of sediment oxygen demand to hypoxia development off the changjiang estuary abstract this study evaluates the contribution of sediment oxygen demand sod to hypoxia development off the changjiang estuary based on sod measurements from onboard chamber incubations and numerical experiments onboard core incubations were conducted for samples collected from four stations in the yellow sea ys and the east china sea ecs during cruises in june august and october 2006 the measured sod ranges widely from 9 1 to 62 5 mmol o 2 m 2 d 1 with a mean rate of 22 6 16 4 mmol o 2 m 2 d 1 and the maximum occurring in august the rates in regions experiencing hypoxia vary from 13 5 to 24 0 mmol o 2 m 2 d 1 with a mean of 18 9 4 6 mmol o 2 m 2 d 1 additionally the vertical oxygen flux was calculated from profile measurements at a hypoxic mooring station adjacent to the changjiang estuary on september 3rd and 4th 2006 the oxygen flux across the pycnocline was about 3 1 mmol o 2 m 2 d 1 much lower than the sod implying that the low oxygen supply associated with stratification promotes the formation and maintenance of hypoxia in bottom waters the one dimensional numerical experiments configured for stratified and well mixed water columns further confirm that stratification is necessary for the development and persistence of hypoxia while sod is a major oxygen sink below the pycnocline integrated over june to august the amount of oxygen loss beneath the pycnocline due to sod is equal to 116 148 80 142 and 82 179 of the total net oxygen loss in the southern hypoxic region northern hypoxic region and the middle shelf respectively during june to august when hypoxia develops sod in the northern and southern regions has similar magnitude the changjiang diluted water cdw promotes hypoxia formation in both regions while the oxygen advection caused by the taiwan warm current twc would alleviate hypoxia formation especially for the southern hypoxic region

geochemical composition and provenance discrimination of coastal sediments around cheju island in the southeastern yellow sea sediments from the northern coastal area of cheju island south sea of korea southeastern yellow sea were analyzed for grain size composition elemental compositions and clay mineralogy in order to investigate their provenance rare earth element ree compositions and geochemical discrimination diagrams were revealed to be useful indices for identifying the origin of sediments in the study area these indices together with clay mineral compositions suggest that both the sandy and muddy sediments originated from weathering of the volcanic rocks of cheju island whereas sediments originating from the changjiang and huanghe rivers cannot be traced in the study area similarly river borne matter from the korea peninsula has little influence on the sediment deposited therefore the suggestion that fine grained changjiang sediments can reach the nearshore area of cheju island the cheju strait suggested by oceanic circulation patterns in the yellow and east china seas cannot be supported by this study based on geochemical and mineralogical analyses

multielement geochemistry of offshore sediments in the southeastern yellow sea and implications for sediment origin and dispersal abstract in total 116 surface sediments were collected from an offshore area of the southeastern yellow sea including a large mud belt southeastern yellow sea mud seysm and analyzed for grain size and geochemical composition organic carbon and 42 elements principal component analysis revealed that elemental compositions of the offshore sediments were mostly controlled by common aluminosilicate clay minerals and quartz most elements heavy minerals hf zr u th rare earth elements rees biogenic calcium carbonates ca sr feldspar and mica k ba pb and mn oxides mn oxide coatings on sand grains notably total ree concentrations may be associated with heavy minerals possibly zircon and monazite especially in silty grains even though heavy ree hrees concentrations are more strongly controlled by clay minerals in muddy sediments the diagnostic discrimination plots of geochemical compositions e g fe vs al mg vs al light ree vs hree and la lu ucc vs la y ucc suggested that the offshore sediments especially in seysm deposits were composed of a mixture of korean river derived silts and chinese river derived clays this demonstrated that chinese river sediments especially clay particles largely contributed to the formation of the giant mud belt in the korean coastal area furthermore the observed geochemical end members provide new markers of sediment provenance which can be used to track dispersal patterns and sediment limits from chinese and or korean rivers

development of stratigraphy and sediment distribution in the northeastern yellow sea during holocene sea level rise abstract a succession of holocene deposits in the northeastern yellow sea were interpreted in a sequence stratigraphic context and sedimentology of each deposit was characterized based on analyses of high resolution seismic profiles and sediment cores taken along a transect thin 3 m transgressive sediments that accumulated through shoreface erosion during the rapid sea level rise in the early holocene overlie a subaerially eroded low gradient late pleistocene platform on the present day inner shelf region cores reveal marine sands over tidal estuarine sandy muds with an intervening rather indistinct ravinement surface in the deepest shelf area these early holocene tidal estuarine deposits remain exposed at the seabottom in the mid o late holocene two contrasting deposits of the highstand type deltaic clayey mud and tidal sand ridges began to accumulate in response to slower rates of sea level rise a series of tidal sand ridges in the nearshore area migrated offshore over the transgressive sand sheet and a deltaic watery mud prograded discordantly over consolidated tidal estuarine deposits in the central shelf the transgressive facies relationships present a model for macrotidal epicontinental sea settings subject to low wave energy and reduced sediment supply