Abstract
The East China Sea (ECS) is a river-dominated epicontinental sea, linking the Asian continent to the northwestern Pacific via the large rivers originating from Tibetan Plateau. The relevant huge influx of riverine detritus has developed unique sedimentary systems in the ECS during the Quaternary, offering ideal terrestrial archives for reconstructing Quaternary paleoenvironmental changes and studying land-sea interactions. Overall, two characteristic river systems dominate the sedimentary systems and sediment source to sink transport patterns in the ECS, represented by the Changjiang (Yangtze River) and Huanghe (Yellow River) for the large river system and Taiwan rivers for the small river system. Given this, the sediments derived from both river systems bear distinct features in terms of parent rock lithology, provenance weathering and sediment transport. Previous studies mostly focus on either the ‘source’ discrimination or the ‘sink’ records of the sedimentary system in the ECS, while the source to sink process linking the land and sea, in particular its time scale, has been poorly understood. Here we introduce a newly-developed dating technique, the ‘comminution age’ method, which offers a quantitative constraint on the time scale of sediment transfer from its ultimate source to the final depositional sink. This novel method is of great significance for improving our understanding on the earth surface processes including tectonic-climate driven weathering, and sediment recycling in relation to landscape evolution and marine environmental changes. The application of comminution age method in the ECS will provide important constraints on sediment source-to-sink process and more evidences for the construction of late Quaternary paleoenvironmental changes under these unique sedimentary systems.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aciego, S., Bourdon, B., Schwander, J., Baur, H., and Forieri, A., 2011. Toward a radiometric ice clock: Uranium ages of the Dome C ice core. Quaternary Science Reviews, 30: 2389–2397.
Andersen, M. B., Vance, D., Keech, A. R., Rickli, J., and Hudson, G., 2013. Estimating U fluxes in a high-latitude, boreal post-glacial setting using U-series isotopes in soils and rivers. Chemical Geology, 354: 22–32.
Bourdon, B., Bureau, S., Andersen, M. B., Pili, E., and Hubert, A., 2009. Weathering rates from top to bottom in a carbonate environment. Chemical Geology, 258: 275–287.
Bourdon, B., Turner, S., Henderson, G. M., and Lundstrom, C. C., 2003. Introduction to U-series geochemistry. Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry, 52: 1–21.
Cartwright, J., 1962. Particle shape factors. Annals of Occupational Hygiene, 5: 163–171.
Dadson, S. J., Hovius, N., Chen, H., Dade, W. B., Hsieh, M. L., Willett, S. D., Hu, J. C., Horng, M. J., Chen, M. C., and Stark, C. P., 2003. Links between erosion, runoff variability and seismicity in the Taiwan orogen. Nature, 426: 648–651.
DePaolo, D. J., Lee, V. E., Christensen, J. N., and Maher, K., 2012. Uranium comminution ages: Sediment transport and deposition time scales. Comptes Rendus Geoscience, 344: 678–687.
DePaolo, D. J., Maher, K., Christensen, J. N., and McManus, J., 2006. Sediment transport time measured with U-series isotopes: Results from ODP North Atlantic drift site 84. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 248: 394–410.
Dosseto, A., Bourdon, B., and Turner, S. P., 2008. Uraniumseries isotopes in river materials: Insights into the timescales of erosion and sediment transport. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 265: 1–17.
Dosseto, A., Bourdon, B., Gaillardet, J., Allègre, C., and Filizola, N., 2006a. Time scale and conditions of weathering under tropical climate: Study of the Amazon Basin with U-series. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 70: 71–89.
Dosseto, A., Bourdon, B., Gaillardet, J., Maurice-Bourgoin, L., and Allègre, C., 2006b. Weathering and transport of sediments in the Bolivian Andes: Time constraints from uranium-series isotopes. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 248: 759–771.
Dosseto, A., Hesse, P., Maher, K., Fryirs, K., and Turner, S., 2010. Climatic and vegetation control on sediment dynamics during the last glacial cycle. Geology, 38: 395–398.
Dou, Y., Yang, S., Liu, Z., Clift, P. D., Shi, X., Yu, H., and Berne, S., 2010a. Provenance discrimination of siliciclastic sediments in the middle Okinawa Trough since 30ka: Constraints from rare earth element compositions. Marine Geology, 275: 212–220.
Dou, Y., Yang, S., Liu, Z., Clift, P. D., Yu, H., Berne, S., and Shi, X., 2010b. Clay mineral evolution in the central Okinawa Trough since 28ka: Implications for sediment provenance and paleoenvironmental change. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 288: 108–117.
Dou, Y., Yang, S., Liu, Z., Li, J., Shi, X., Yu, H., and Berne, S., 2012. Sr-Nd isotopic constraints on terrigenous sediment provenances and Kuroshio Current variability in the Okinawa Trough during the late Quaternary. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 356–366: 38–47.
Edwards, R. L., Chen, J. H., and Wasserburg, G. J., 1987. 238U-234U-230Th-232Th systematics and the precise measurement of time over the past 500,000 years. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 81: 175–192.
Gao, S., 2014. Holocene shelf-coastal sedimentary systems associated with the Changjiang River: An overview. Acta Oceanologica Sinica, 32: 4–12.
Gao, S., and Collins, M. B., 2014. Holocene sedimentary systems on continental shelves. Marine Geology, 352: 268–294.
Granet, M., Chabaux, F., Stille, P., Dosseto, A., France-Lanord, C., and Blaes, E., 2010. U-series disequilibria in suspended river sediments and implication for sediment transfer time in alluvial plains: The case of the Himalayan rivers. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 74: 2851–2865.
Granet, M., Chabaux, F., Stille, P., France-Lanord, C., and Pelt, E., 2007. Time-scales of sedimentary transfer and weathering processes from U-series nuclides: Clues from the Himalayan rivers. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 261: 389–406.
Handley, H. K., Turner, S., Afonso, J. C., Dosseto, A., and Cohen, T., 2013a. Sediment residence times constrained by uranium-series isotopes: A critical appraisal of the comminution approach. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 103: 245–262.
Handley, H. K., Turner, S. P., Dosseto, A., Haberlah, D., and Afonso, J. C., 2013b. Considerations for U-series dating of sediments: Insights from the Flinders Ranges, South Australia. Chemical Geology, 340: 40–48.
Horng, C. S., and Huh, C. A., 2011. Magnetic properties as tracers for source-to-sink dispersal of sediments: A case study in the Taiwan Strait. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 309: 141–152.
Huh, C. A., and Su, C. C., 1999. Sedimentation dynamics in the East China Sea elucidated from 210Pb, 137Cs and 239,240Pu. Marine Geology, 160: 183–196.
Ijiri, A., Wang, L. J., Oba, T., Kawahata, H., Huang, C. Y., and Huang, C. Y., 2005. Paleoenvironmental changes in the northern area of the East China Sea during the past 42,000 years. Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology, 219: 239–261.
Ivanovich, M., and Harmon, R. S., 1992. Uranium-Series Disequilibrium: Applications to Earth, Marine, and Environmental Sciences. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 910pp.
Kigoshi, K., 1971. Alpha-recoil thorium-234: Dissolution into water and the Uranium-234/Uranium-238 disequilibrium in nature. Science, 173: 47–49.
Lee, V. E., DePaolo, D. J., and Christensen, J. N., 2010. Uranium-series comminution ages of continental sediments: Case study of a Pleistocene alluvial fan. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 296: 244–254.
Li, G., Liu, Y., Yang, Z., Yue, S., Yang, W., and Han, X., 2005. Ancient Changjiang channel system in the East China Sea continental shelf during the last glaciation. Science in China Series D: Earth Sciences, 48: 1972–1978.
Li, G., Sun, X., Liu, Y., Bickert, T., and Ma, Y., 2009. Sea surface temperature record from the north of the East China Sea since late Holocene. Chinese Science Bulletin, 54: 4507–4513.
Liu, J., Saito, Y., Kong, X. H., Wang, H., Xiang, L. H., Wen, C., and Nakashima, R., 2010. Sedimentary record of environmental evolution off the Yangtze River estuary, East China Sea, during the last similar to 13,000 years, with special reference to the influence of the Yellow River on the Yangtze River delta during the last 600 years. Quaternary Science Reviews, 29: 2424–2438.
Maher, K., DePaolo, D. J., and Christensen, J. N., 2006a. U-Sr isotopic speedometer: Fluid flow and chemical weathering rates in aquifers. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 70: 4417–4435.
Maher, K., Steefel, C. I., DePaolo, D. J., and Viani, B. E., 2006b. The mineral dissolution rate conundrum: Insights from reactive transport modeling of U isotopes and pore fluid chemistry in marine sediments. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 70: 337–363.
Milliman, J. D., and Farnsworth, K. L., 2011. River Discharge to the Coastal Ocean: A Global Synthesis. Cambridge University Press, New York, 392pp.
Olley, J. M., Roberts, R. G., and Murray, A. S., 1997. A novel method for determining residence times of river and lake sediments based on disequilibrium in the thorium decay series.Water Resources Research, 33: 1319–1326.
Suresh, P., Dosseto, A., Handley, H., and Hesse, P., 2014. Assessment of a sequential phase extraction procedure for uranium-series isotope analysis of soils and sediments. Applied Radiation and Isotopes, 83: 47–55.
Vigier, N., and Bourdon, B., 2011. Constraining rates of chemical and physical erosion using U-series radionuclides. In: Handbook of Environmental Isotope Geochemistry, Advances in Isotope Geochemistry. Baskaran, M., ed., Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 553–571.
Vigier, N., Bourdon, B., Lewin, E., Dupré, B., Turner, S., Chakrapani, G., Van Calsteren, P., and Allegre, C., 2005. Mobility of U-series nuclides during basalt weathering: An example from the Deccan Traps (India). Chemical Geology, 219: 69–91.
Vigier, N., Bourdon, B., Turner, S., and Allègre, C. J., 2001. Erosion timescales derived from U-decay series measurements in rivers. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 193: 549–563.
Vigier, N., Burton, K., Gislason, S., Rogers, N., Duchene, S., Thomas, L., Hodge, E., and Schaefer, B., 2006. The relationship between riverine U-series disequilibria and erosion rates in a basaltic terrain. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 249: 258–273.
Wang, H., Saito, Y., Zhang, Y., Bi, N., Sun, X., and Yang, Z., 2011. Recent changes of sediment flux to the western Pacific Ocean from major rivers in East and Southeast Asia. Earth-Science Reviews, 108: 80–100.
Wang, Z., Yang, S., Zhang, Z., Lan, X., Gu, Z., and Zhang, X., 2013. Paleo-fluvial sedimentation on the outer shelf of the East China Sea during the last glacial maximum. Chinese Journal of Oceanology and Limnology, 31: 886–894.
White, A. F., and Peterson, M. L., 1990. Role of reactive- surface- area characterization in geochemical kinetic models. In: Chemical Modeling of Aqueous Systems II. Melchoir, D. C., and Bassett, R. L., eds., American Chemical Society, Washington DC, 461–475.
Xu, K. H., Li, A. C., Liu, J. P., Milliman, J. D., Yang, Z. S., Liu, C. S., Kao, S. J., Wan, S. M., and Xu, F. J., 2012. Provenance, structure, and formation of the mud wedge along inner continental shelf of the East China Sea: A synthesis of the Yangtze dispersal system. Marine Geology, 291: 176–191.
Yang, S. L., Milliman, J. D., Xu, K. H., Deng, B., Zhang, X. Y., and Luo, X. X., 2014. Downstream sedimentary and geomorphic impacts of the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River. Earth-Science Reviews, 138: 469–486.
Yang, Z., Wang, H., Saito, Y., Milliman, J. D., Xu, K., Qiao, S., and Shi, G., 2006. Dam impacts on the Changjiang (Yangtze) River sediment discharge to the sea: The past 55 years and after the Three Gorges Dam. Water Resources Research, 42: W04407, DOI: 10.1029/2005WR003970.
Yang, Z. S., Lei, K., Guo, Z. G., and Wang, H. J., 2007. Effect of a winter storm on sediment transport and resuspension in the distal mud area, the East China Sea. Journal of Coastal Research, 23: 310–318.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Li, C., Yang, S., Lian, E. et al. A review of comminution age method and its potential application in the East China Sea to constrain the time scale of sediment source-to-sink process. J. Ocean Univ. China 14, 399–406 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11802-015-2769-8
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11802-015-2769-8