Abstract
The routine sampling procedure for grain-size analysis of intertidal heterolithic deposits runs a high risk of inadvertent mixing of two or more different sedimentation units, which would consequently complicate data interpretation. Traditionally, sedimentologists pay less attention to muddy layers due to a lack of internal structures, although the grain-size populations of such layers should encode more information on fine-mud flocculation processes than sandy layers. In this paper, individual muddy and sandy layers of nine short cores from the Da-Jian-Shan tidal flats of the middle Qiantang Estuary in the East China Sea, which experiences tidal bores, were sampled separately for grain-size analysis. A core taken at Huang-Jia-Yan from the lower estuary, not affected by tidal bores, served for comparison. A curve-fitting method was employed to decompose each grain-size distribution into two Gaussian populations. Cumulative plots indicate that intertidal sediments are mostly dispersed as intermittent and uniform suspension loads, traction loads being absent or very subordinate. This is conceivably linked to flows agitated by tidal bores, and to the highly dynamic nature of fine sand and coarse silt particles. Selective transport and deposition have produced three distinct sedimentation units, namely, tidal-bore deposits, tidal sandy deposits, and tidal muddy deposits. These can also be discriminated on bivariate plots of any two textural parameters. Shoreward attenuation of tidal flows is reflected in the gradual fining and thinning of sandy layers from lower-flat massive sands, through middle-flat hybrid deposits (alternations of massive sands and tidal rhythmites), to upper-flat tidal rhythmites. This gradient is also well represented in slightly decreasing (increasing) sorting and decreasing (increasing) proportions of the coarser (finer) hydraulic populations in the muddy layers. Although no corresponding trends are discernible in the hydraulic populations of the sandy layers, these can be distinguished on the basis of characteristic sedimentary structures. The floc limit and floc volume fraction, estimated from the modes and proportions of the finer hydraulic populations, are 8~10 μm (16 μm) and on average 41.73% (26.41%) for muddy (sandy) layers, respectively. The most plausible explanation is that the floc limit sensitively responds to subtle changes in the suspended sediment composition and the ambient hydraulic and hydrochemical settings. In comparison, the Huang-Jia-Yan core features blurred bedding and higher contents of fine mud and flocs, these being consistent with the weaker energy on the upper tidal flat of the lower estuary where neither tidal bores nor bigger waves occur.
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Acknowledgements
This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) under grant numbers 41276045 and 41476031, the China Geological Survey (GZH201100203), and the Special Research Fund for the Doctor Program of Higher Education in China (20130072130003). We wish to thank Yijing Wu and Lingling Chen for their assistance in the field and with laboratory work. We also express our appreciation to two anonymous reviewers and the journal editors for their constructive suggestions on a previous version of the paper.
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Fan, D., Shang, S., Cai, G. et al. Distinction and grain-size characteristics of intertidal heterolithic deposits in the middle Qiantang Estuary (East China Sea). Geo-Mar Lett 35, 161–174 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00367-015-0398-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00367-015-0398-2