Changes in marine sedimentation patterns in the northeastern South China Sea in the past 35,000 years
Journal
Communications Earth & Environment
Journal Volume
5
Journal Issue
1
ISSN
2662-4435
Date Issued
2024-08-08
Author(s)
Chen, Kuan-Ting
Hsu, Shu-Kun
Lin, Andrew Tien-Shun
Babonneau, Nathalie
Ratzov, Gueorgui
Lallemand, Serge
Huang, Pi-Chun
Lin, Lien-Kai
Lin, Hsiao-Shan
Tsai, Ching-Hui
Lin, Jing-Yi
Chen, Song-Chuen
Abstract
In the continental margin of the northeastern South China Sea, the sea level fluctuations since the Last Glacial Maximum have profoundly impacted the sedimentary environment. Our sub-bottom profiler data show a sedimentation process change from deposition to erosion during the Last Glacial Maximum. After the widespread erosion, the sedimentation process returned depositional throughout the Holocene, probably due to the rise of the sea level. This sedimentary process results in a widespread sedimentary unconformity in the continental slope, providing a benchmark for the end of the Last Glacial Maximum. Analyzing the sediment cores, we affirm that the change in current intensity is the primary factor controlling the sedimentary environments. The current intensities strengthened during the eustatic lowstand and weakened during the highstand periods, leading to alternating erosional and depositional processes. The widespread distribution of the erosive surface represents a regional-scale change in the sedimentary environment instead of a local event.
Subjects
Pacific Ocean
South China Sea
continental margin
continental slope
core analysis
deposition
depositional environment
erosion rate
eustacy
highstand
Last Glacial Maximum
lowstand
marine sediment
sea level change
sediment core
sedimentation
sequence stratigraphy
unconformity
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Type
journal article