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Provenance analysis of surface sediments in the Holocene mud area of the southern coastal waters off Shandong Peninsula, China

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Abstract

The sedimentary record of mud areas is an important carrier of information on the Holocene evolution of marine environments. Based on fine interpretations of the shallow stratigraphic section data, a small mud deposit area has been found in the southern coastal waters off Shandong Peninsula. This mud area is mainly distributed in coastal waters north of Laoshantou to the vicinity of Rushan Estuary. Overall, it is parallel to the coastline and spreads in a banded pattern, gradually thinning from offshore to the sea. The isopach map of depth distribution is parallel with the shoreline, and the depocenter lies in coastal waters of the Aoshan Bay where the maximum thickness is up to 22.5 m. Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) 14C dating shows that the mud area was formed in the Holocene. The test data of surface sediments from the mud area, including particle size, mineral characteristics, and rare earth element contents, are used in comparisons with the composition of materials from the major surrounding medium and small rivers flowing into the sea and the Huanghe (Yellow) River. In this paper, the sedimentary characteristics and provenance of the mud deposit area are discussed. The results show that the formation of this mud area resulted from the joint action of the Huanghe River and surrounding rivers flowing into the sea.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Marine Hydrocarbon Resources and Environmental Geology of Ministry of Land and Resources, Qingdao Institute of Marine Geology, Qingdao, 266071, China

    Xiaobo Zhang, Shipu Bi, Yong Zhang, Yuan Yang, Xianghuai Kong, Xiaoyue Li & Hongxian Chu

  2. Laboratory for Marine Mineral Resources, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Qingdao, 266071, China

    Xiaobo Zhang, Shipu Bi, Yong Zhang, Yuan Yang, Xianghuai Kong, Xiaoyue Li & Hongxian Chu

  3. Geo-engineering Investigation Institute of Xiamen, Xiamen, 361008, China

    Shanshan Liu

  4. School of Water Resources and Environment, Shijiazhuang University of Economics, Shijiazhuang, 050031, China

    Xiaoyue Li

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  1. Xiaobo Zhang
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  2. Shipu Bi
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  3. Yong Zhang
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  4. Yuan Yang
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  7. Xiaoyue Li
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  8. Hongxian Chu
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Correspondence to Yong Zhang.

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Foundation item: The National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) under contract Nos 41376079 and 41276060; the Marine Geology Survey Project under contract Nos GZH200900501 and GZH201400204; the Foundation of the Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Marine Ecology and Environment & Disaster Prevention under contract No. 201304.

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Zhang, X., Bi, S., Zhang, Y. et al. Provenance analysis of surface sediments in the Holocene mud area of the southern coastal waters off Shandong Peninsula, China. Acta Oceanol. Sin. 35, 124–133 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13131-016-0852-7

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