Sedimentary evolution since the late Last Deglaciation in the western North Yellow Sea

To decipher the sedimentary evolution and environmental changes since the late Last Deglaciation, two gravity cores were analyzed from the western North Yellow Sea (NYS). The two cores (B-L44 and B-U35) were sampled for grain size, clay minerals, detrital minerals, and 14C dating. They are comparable in lithofaies, and the observed succession was divided into four depositional units based on lithology and mineral assemblages, which recorded the postglacial transgression. Depositional unit 4 (DU 4) (before 11.5 ka) was characterized with enrichment in sand, and was interpreted as nearshore deposits in shallow water during the Younger Dryas Event. DU 3 (11.5-9.6 ka) displayed a fining-upward succession composed of sediments from local rivers, such as the Huanghe (Yellow) River, and from coastal erosion, which clearly were related to the Early Holocene transgression. Stable muddy deposition (DU 2) in NYS began to form at about 9.6 ka, which received direct supply of fine materials from the Shandong subaqueous clinoform. It is believed that the Yellow Sea circulation system played a major role in controlling the formation of fine sediment deposition in DU 1 (after 6.4 ka) after the sea level maximum.