Wet/dry Repetitions of Centennial Scale Reconstructed by Inorganic Chemistry of the Mid-Holocene Hwayang Wetland in the West Coast of Korea

Inorganic geochemical and mineralogical analyses from the trench sediments of the Hwayang wetland were carried out to verify the wet/dry conditions during 6000 - 5000 yr BP and abnormal event of 6300 yr BP of Korean west coast. Lithostratigraphy, mineralogy and major element concentrations of the sediments of the trench indicate that during 6000 - 5000 yr BP, a wet/dry conditions might be repeated at an interval of 200 years. Carbonate minerals precipitated with the decrease of water depth in the lake or wetland after about 6000 yr BP. On the other hand, the sediments coarser in mean grain size and larger in standard deviation were corresponded with periods of 6300 yr BP and 6230 yr BP. Especially, such a feature of grain size distribution of 6300 yr BP appears in other wetlands situated in the west coast, e.g., Hwangsan wetland and Cheollipo coastal wetland. During the period, the coarse sediments seem to have been delivered by a high energy like storming.