• Geosciences Journal
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.989-1000
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• 2018

The provenance of the Central Yellow Sea Mud (CYSM) in the Yellow Sea has been attracted a great deal of attention over the last three decades, but a consensus is not yet reached. In this study, 101 surface sediment samples collected from the CYSM were investigated to determine provenance and transport mechanisms in the area using the clay minerals and major element components. The Huanghe sediments are characterized by higher smectite, but the Changjiang sediments are more abundant illite contents. Western Korean rivers contain more kaolinite and chlorite than do Chinese rivers. The Chinese rivers have higher $Fe_2O_3$, MgO, and CaO than the Korean rivers at the same $Al_2O_3$ concentration. Therefore, the clay minerals and major element concentrations can be useful indicator for the source. Based on our results, we suggest that the surface sediments in CYSM were composed mainly of Changjiang sediments, mixed a partly with sediments from the Huanghe and the western Korean rivers. Although the northwestern part of CYSM is proximate to the Huanghe, the contents of smectite and CaO were extremely low. It could be evidence that the Huanghe materials do not enter directly into the CYSM due to the Shandong Peninsula Front. Considering the oceanic circulation in the Yellow Sea, the Changjiang sediments could be transported eastward with the Changjiang Diluted Water and then mixed in CYSM via the Yellow Sea Warm Current (YSWC). Huanghe sediments could be provided by coastal currents (Shandong Coastal Current and Yellow Sea Coastal Current) and the YSWC. In addition, sediments from western Korean rivers might be supplied into the CYSM deposit via the Korean Coastal Current, Transversal Current, and YSWC.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.257-266
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• 2018

East China Sea (ECS) is known to be supplied with large amounts of sediments form Huanghe, Changjiang and various rivers in Korea. Many studies have been conducted to identify the effects of rivers and deposition process of ECS, but no consensus has been reached. In this study, clay minerals, rare earth elements (REEs) and grain size were analyzed to study the provenance and sedimentation environment of core 99MAP-P63 in ECS. Clay mineral contents of 99MAP-P63 are abundant in order of illite, chlorite, kaolinite, and smectite. The provenance of 99MAP-P63 sediments using clay minerals is interpreted as the Changjiang regardless of depth. As a result of REEs analysis, 99MAP-P63 sediments are very similar to Chinese rivers sediments. Therefore, the provenance of 99MAP-P63 is Changjiang, and the influence of Korean river seems to be insignificant. 99MAP-P63 sediments are generally classified as sandy silt, but the top of the core is divided into sand with a sand contents of 85 %. Compared with surrounding cores, sandy silt sediments arecorresponded to the low stand stage when sea-level was low, and the sediments were thought to have been supplied directly through the paleo-Changjiang. Sandy sediments in uppermost of core are corresponded to transgressive stage. Although distance from estuary was increased due to sea-level rise, it was possible to supply coarse sediments due to high bottom stress, and the paleo-Changjiang sediments deposited in study area were re-deposited.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.337-345
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• 2003

Surficial sediments from the northern coastal area of Jeju Island, southeastern Yellow Sea (South Sea of Korea) were analyzed for grain-size texture, some geochemical characteristics and clay mineralogy in order to assess their provenance. Rare-earth element compositions and some geochemical discrimination diagrams, especially of Ti/Al, Nb/Al and Rb/Al ratios, were revealed to be useful indices for identifying the origin of sediments. These indices, together with clay mineral compositions, suggest that the coarse-grained sediments originate from the volcanic rocks of Jeju Island, whereas the fine-grained sediments are derived from Chinese rivers, especially the Changjiang River. The oceanic circulation pattern and the physical-chemical properties of seawater in the Yellow and East China seal support the possibility that the fine-pained Changjiang (Yangtze River) sediments can reach the coastal area of Jeju Island (southeastern Yellow Sea).

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.289-302
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• 2013

In order to determine the provenance of the Huksan Mud Belt sediments in the southeastern Yellow Sea, the major and rare earth elements of the same sediments were analyzed. The surface sediments were sampled from top of piston-cores and box-cores taken at 51 sites within the Huksan Mud Belt. With the mean grain size of $5-6{\phi}$, the sediments of the study area are mud-dominated. The spatial distribution patterns show that silt content is high in the northern Mud Belt, whereas clay content increases as it moves toward the southern Mud Belt. Interestingly, the geochemical compositions both of major and rare earth elements have resulted in differences of sediment provenance. Among the major elements, plots of Fe/Al vs. Mg/Al ratios, $Al_2O_3$ vs. MgO ratios, and $Al_2O_3$ vs. $K_2O$ reveal that the Huksan Mud Belt sediments are dominated by the Korean river-derived sediments. However, the characteristics of rare earth elements infer sediments originating from the Chinese rivers. This discrepancy between the above provenances is attributed to the different contributory factors in the content of chemical elements. Considering strong correlation between major elements with grain sizes, the contents of the major elements are thought to be influenced by the grain size. However, there is a weak correlation between rare earth elements and grain sizes. The behaviour of rare earth elements may be controlled by heavy minerals, rather than grain sizes. Further study requires to solve the discrepancy arose from the difference in applied chemical tracers.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.328-340
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• 2008

To discriminate the provenance of shelf sediments in the western part off Jeju Island, the textual and elemental compositions were analyzed and compared with the sediments originating from Changjiang and Huanghe Rivers of China and the Korean (Keum) River. The sediments in the study area are composed of coarse silt with a mean pain size of $3.6{\sim}8.5{\phi}$ and their $CaCO_3$ contents ranged from 0.92 to 9.75 wt.%. The ratios of TOC over total nitrogen (TN) showed that the study area sediments contained more organic matters of marine origin than those of terrigenous origin. The high concentration of Fe/Al, Ti/Al and Mn/Al figures were found in the southwestern part near the Changjiang esturay, indicating that it seemed to result from the influence of the Changjiang River. The discrimination diagrams including Sc/Al vs Cr/Th, Th/Sc vs Nb/Co and Ti/Nb vs Th/Sc were thus used as provenance indicators to identify the sediment origins of the western part off Jeju Island. Based on these discriminated diagrams it clearly showed that most of the sediment in the western part were originated from the Huanghe River, but the sediments in the southwestern part near the Changjiang esturay might come from the Changjiang River. In contrast, the sediment samples of the northeastern part showed the higher figures than those of the river sediments and other regions, suggesting that the sediments in the western part off Jeju Island must be originated from diverse sources.

• 한국지구과학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.09a
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• pp.135-135
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• 2005

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.107-114
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• 2014

In this study, we tried to determine the origin of fine-grained sediments in Southeastern Yellow Sea Mud patch (SEYSM) using principal component analysis coupled with semi-quantitative X-ray diffraction analysis for 4 major clay minerals. We used 51 marine surface sediments from SEYSM and 33 surface sediments of rivers flowing into the Yellow Sea. We made bioplot diagram using R program with principal component 1 and component 2 because the two components might contain about 98% of all data. The content of each clay mineral in the south and north regions of SEYSM are almost similar. In the biplot, SEYSM sediments distribute close to Korean rivers sediments than Huanghe and Changjiang sediments. Based on these results, we suggest that SEYSM is originated from the Korean rivers sediments. The higher accumulation rate in the SEYSM compared to the sediment discharge from neighboring Korean rivers can be explained by erosion and reworking of surface sediments in this area. The principal component analysis can be used for the provenance research of marine sediments around the Korean Peninsula.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.92-99
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• 2005

To discriminate the provenance of shelf sediments in the East China Sea, textural and elemental compositions along with strontium isotopic ratio ($^{87}Sr/^{86}Sr$) were analyzed and compared with the sediments originated from Chinese rivers. The sediments in the study area are composed of fine-grained mud with a mean grain size of $47\;{\phi}$ and their $CaCO_3$, contents range from 3.9 to 11.5% (average 7.6%). In the study area, the content of most metallic elements are strongly constrained by sediment grain size (quartz dilution effect) and that of biogenic material and, thereby, their spatial distribution seems not enough for understanding sediment provenance in the study area. The muddy sediments of the Yangtze river have much lower $^{87}Sr/^{86}Sr$ ratio ($0.71197{\sim}0.71720$) than the Yellow Sea shelf muddy sediments which are supposed to be originated from the Huanghe river ($0.72126{\sim}0.72498$), suggesting the distribution pattern of $^{87}Sr/^{86}Sr$ ratios as a new tracer to discriminate the provenance of shelf sediments in the study area. Different source rock compositions and weathering processes between both drainage basins may account for the differences in $^{87}Sr/^{86}Sr$ ratio. Although the ratios show wide range, from 0.71445 to 0.72184 with an average 0.71747 in the study area, they are close to the values of the Yangtze river sediments, suggesting that the sediments were mainly originated from the Yangtze river. The previous studies on the dispersal pattern of modern sediments and the physico-chemical properties of seawater in the Yellow and East China seas support the possibility that the fine-grained Yangtze river sediments can reach to the East China Sea shelf as well as to the southeastern Yellow Sea.

• Korean Journal of Mineralogy and Petrology
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.175-183
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• 2020

There have rarely been performed for the clay mineralogy of the East Sea sediments except for few studies about paleoenvironmental aspect. This study inferred the provenance of sediments based on the clay mineral characteristics and distribution pattern for the 120 sediment samples collected by the box corer from the Gangneung-Donghae area between 2017-2019. The relative proportions of the four major clay minerals are abundant in the order of illite, chlorite, kaolinite, and smectite. The continental shelf sediments below water depth 150 m have more chlorite and kaolinite content and better illite crystallinity, but less illite and smectite content, and S/I index than those of continental slope sediments. Clay mineral composition of the continental shelf sediments are influenced by the adjacent continental geology, because north site (Gangneung area) has more chlorite but south site (Donghae area) has more kaolinite. These characteristics and distribution pattern of clay minerals indicate that the provenance of sediments are different between continental shelf and continental slop. The continental shelf sediments may be introduced the study area by the adjacent small rivers whereas the continental slope sediment might be supplied by current from the south of the study area.

• Proceedings of the Mineralogical Society of Korea Conference
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• 2003.05a
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• pp.54-54
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• 2003

The metasedimentary rocks together with various granitoids are the main constituents in Taebaeksan gneiss complex, northern Yeongnam Massif. Chemical compositions of sedimentary rocks may reflect the nature of the provenance and could be crucial for understanding the evolution of early continental crust. Previous workers have suggested that the provenance and tectonic studies based on the geochemistry of sediments are applicable to the Precambrian samples. In this study we analyzed the major, trace and REE elements of metasedimentary rocks to understand their provenance and tectonic setting during sedimentation. The overall geochemical characteristics of metasedimentary rocks are similar to those of average shale of the post-Archean. Major element chemistry indicates mature and sorted nature of the sediments. The degree of weathering in the source rocks the is not uniform, as inferred from a large scatter in chemical indices of weathering (CIW). The immobile trace elements such as Th, Sc, and REE can be used to discriminate various sedimentary processes. The Th/sc ratios (0.9 - 4.4) are larger than those of the upper crust and average shale, suggesting that the felsic source predominates. The contents of Ni and Cr and the variations in the ratio of compatible to incompatible elements are similar to the average post-Archean shale. Uniform chondrite-normalized REE pattern with the LREE enrichment (LaN/SmN = 4.9 ${\pm}$ 0.4) and slight negative Eu anomalies (Eu/Eu$\^$*/ = 0.7 ${\pm}$ 0.1) also support this observation. The presence of negative Eu anomaly indicates that intracrustal igneous processes involving plagioclase separation have affected the provenance rocks. The LREE enrichment implies the major role of felsic rocks in source rocks. The eNd (1.9 Ga) values of metasediment rocks vary from 9.4 to 6.7, corresponding to TDM of 2.9 - 2.7 Ga. On the other hand, the 147Sm/144Nd ratios are 0.1079 - 0.1101, corresponding to typical tettigenous sediments. The geochemical features of metasedimentary rocks such as high abundances of large ion lithophile elements, high ratios of Th/Sc and La/Sm, commonly high Th/U ratios, negative Eu anomalies, and negative eNd, suggest a provenance consisting virtually entirely of recycled upper continental crust in passive margin environment. Tectonic discrimination diagrams based upon major element compositions also support this suggestion. In conjunction with igneous activity and metamorphism in the convergent margin setting at 1.8 - 1. 9 Ga, the transition from passive margin to active margin characterize the Paleoproterozoic crustal evolution in northern Yeongnam Massif.