Clay minerals in the major Chinese coastal estuaries and their provenance implications

doi:10.1007/s11707-010-0130-5

Front Earth Sci Chin

0, Vol.

Issue () : 449-456 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11707-010-0130-5

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Clay minerals in the major Chinese coastal estuaries and their provenance implications

Chunyan MA¹, Jing CHEN²(

), Yuanjun ZHOU¹, Zhanghua WANG²

1. Department of Geography, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China; 2. The State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China

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Abstract

A sea-survey was carried out along the Chinese coast from the Bohai Sea to South China Sea, and 15 surficial samples were taken from major coastal estuaries, i.e., from north to south, the Yellow, abandoned Yellow, Yangtze, Qiantang, Ou, Min, Han, and Pearl River estuaries. On the basis of clay mineral analysis and published data collection, this paper discusses the characteristics of clay minerals of each coastal river and potentials of implications of sediment sources. The results show that the change of diagnostic clay minerals from smectite to kaolinite from the Yellow to the Pearl River estuaries is southward, as clearly shown by the ratios of smectite to chlorite (S/Ch) and kaolinite to illite (K/I). S/Ch decreases southward, while K/I moves reversely, implying change in climate setting from cool/dry to humid/hot with intensified weathering processes. Besides, these two indicators in the estuaries are also linked with the derivation of parent-rock of each river-basin and coastal hydrodynamics. The disproportional higher ratio of K/I in the Yellow and abandoned Yellow River estuaries is ascribed to their sediment sources with abundant loess component in the north-central China. The K/I decrease offshore from the Pearl River estuary is primarily due to hydrodynamic sorting. Therefore, the S/Ch and K/I of the present study comprehensively reflect the controls of climate, parent-rock, and sediment transport along the coast.

Keywords climate setting clay minerals Chinese estuaries

Corresponding Author(s): CHEN Jing,Email:jchen@geo.ecnu.edu.cn

Issue Date: 05 December 2010

Cite this article:

Chunyan MA,Jing CHEN,Yuanjun ZHOU, et al. Clay minerals in the major Chinese coastal estuaries and their provenance implications[J]. Front Earth Sci Chin, 0, (): 449-456.

URL:

https://academic.hep.com.cn/fesci/EN/10.1007/s11707-010-0130-5
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fesci/EN/Y0/V/I/449

Fig.1 Geographic location of the study area and sampling sites (CCC—China coastal current; YSWC—Yellow Sea warm current; TWC—Taiwan warm current; KWC—Kuroshio warm current)

Tab.1 Clay minerals of the studied estuaries

Fig.2 Typical Glycolated XRD curves of samples (HS01—The abandoned Yellow River estuary; YZE—The Yangtze River estuary; P12—The Qiantang River estuary; F18a—The Ou River estuary; F16—The Min River estuary; S401—The Han River estuary; A9—The Pearl River estuary)

Fig.3 Clay mineral indicators of the studied estuaries

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